India has announced that it is looking forward to a productive and outcome-driven G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg later this week, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join global leaders to discuss priority issues shaping the international economic agenda.
Briefing reporters ahead of the visit, Sudhakar Dalela, Secretary (Economic Relations) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said the summit would offer India an opportunity to ensure continuity of themes it advanced during its G20 Presidency in 2023. He reiterated that the G20 remains a premier platform for global economic cooperation, representing nations responsible for over 85 per cent of global GDP and nearly 75 per cent of the world’s population.
Prime Minister Modi will travel to Johannesburg from November 21 to 23 at the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to attend the 20th G20 Leaders’ Summit. The meeting marks the first G20 Summit to be held on African soil and the fourth consecutive summit hosted in the Global South. This will also be Prime Minister Modi’s fourth official visit to South Africa, following his 2016 bilateral visit and participation in BRICS Summits in 2018 and 2023.
According to the MEA, the Prime Minister will articulate India’s views across all three main sessions. These discussions are centered on inclusive and sustainable economic growth, the role of global trade, development financing, and debt-related challenges. Other agenda items include disaster risk reduction, climate change, just energy transitions, food system resilience, critical minerals, employment generation and the governance of artificial intelligence.
South Africa, which holds this year’s G20 Presidency, has identified four core priority areas: strengthening disaster resilience and response; ensuring debt sustainability for low-income nations; mobilising finance to support just energy transitions; and leveraging critical minerals for equitable and sustainable development. Dalela noted that India’s presidency in 2023 laid significant groundwork in several of these areas, particularly disaster risk reduction, where India established a dedicated G20 Working Group that continues under the South African presidency.
He added that South Africa has also advanced the conversations initiated by India on food security through the G20 Task Force on Food Security, keeping global attention focused on securing stable supply chains and resilient agricultural systems.
On the sidelines of the summit, Prime Minister Modi is expected to engage in several bilateral meetings with world leaders, reinforcing India’s strategic outreach. He will also participate in the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Leaders’ Meeting being convened by South Africa.
The Johannesburg Summit will conclude a sequence of four G20 presidencies led consecutively by emerging markets, Indonesia, India, Brazil, and South Africa. Dalela said this phase has collectively strengthened the voice of the Global South within the G20 framework, spotlighting issues central to developing economies.
