Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi departed on Friday for a three-day visit to South Africa, particularly to attend the G20 Summit. PM Modi will attend the 20th G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city. The summit, themed 'Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability', will be the fourth consecutive summit of the Group of 20 countries held in the Global South.  Leaders from the G20 are meeting for the summit this weekend without any representation from the United States after President Donald Trump announced a boycott over his widely rejected claims that South Africa was persecuting its Afrikaner white minority. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is also not attending the summit, as he has cut back on international travel.

On the margins of the summit, PM Modi is expected to hold bilateral meetings with some of the leaders present in Johannesburg. He will also participate in the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Leaders' Meeting being hosted by South Africa. "This will be a particularly special summit given that it will be the first G20 Summit being held in Africa. During India's presidency of the G20 in 2023, the African Union had become a member of the G20," the Prime Minister said in his departure statement ahead of his visit. "The Summit will be an opportunity to discuss key global issues. The theme of this year's G20 has been 'Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability', by which South Africa has carried forward the outcomes from the previous summits held in New Delhi, India, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I will present India's perspective at the Summit in line with our vision of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' and 'One Earth, One Family and One Future,' PM Modi added.