G20 Summit: World leaders have gathered in South Africa’s Johannesburg as the two-day G20 Leaders’ Summit begins on Saturday, November 22, 2025. This is the first G20 summit to be held on the African continent and will see the participation of prominent world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
G20 Summit: Trump, Xi, Putin give miss
Interestingly, for the first time in G20 history, three of the world’s most powerful leaders will be absent: US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. While Xi did not give a reason for skipping the summit, Putin, facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant has not attended in person since 2019 due to the risk of detention abroad and the United States is not sending any delegation, boycotting the event as it confirmed on Friday.
First G20 summit on African continent
South Africa officially assumed the G20 presidency on December 1, 2024, becoming the first African country to lead the group. The African Union was inducted as a permanent member under India’s presidency in 2023. President Cyril Ramaphosa had called it an honour to represent the people of South Africa and take responsibility for the year-long term, which runs until November 30, 2025. The nation’s presidency comes at a time when the world is grappling with overlapping crises, including climate change, underdevelopment, inequality, poverty, hunger, unemployment, rapid technological changes, and geopolitical instability.
G20 Summit: PM Modi arrives in Johannesburg
PM Modi will participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit, representing India during the three-day gathering and arrived in Johannesburg on Friday. He will participate in all sessions and present India’s key priorities, including Global South concerns, sustainable development, climate action, energy transition and reforms in global governance. Also, this marks his 12th G20 Summit appearance since taking office in 2014. He will hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Summit. The theme for this year’s summit is “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability.” The opening session will focus on “Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth – Leaving No One Behind.”
