South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the only African leader invited to attend the G7 Leaders Meeting scheduled for June 11-13 in Britain.
South Africa was invited to attend the gathering after the country, which chaired the African Union in 2020, played a crucial role in Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramaphosa said in his weekly letter.
He said free and fair trade, the global recovery from the pandemic, and climate change would be discussed at the meeting.
Ramaphosa said the platform is an opportunity to deal with the issue of vaccines and to ensure that intellectual property rights are waved.
He said South Africa would talk about the progress the country has made in terms of recovery since the coronavirus hit.
“I will be presenting the clear signals that our country is emerging from the devastation wrought by the pandemic,” he said. “These gatherings also give us an opportunity to promote our continent as a destination for investment.”
What the official G7 ebsite said about attending non-G7 leaders
The Prime Minister’s (Boris Johnson) ambition is to use the G7 to intensify cooperation between the world’s democratic and technologically advanced nations.
To that end, he has invited leaders from Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa to attend as guest countries to deepen the expertise and experience around the table.
Between them the 11 leaders represent over 60% of the people living in democracies around the world. These nations, combined with those in the G7, represent over 2.2 billion people and over half of the world’s economy.
Securing agreement among us will have an even greater impact on the world, showing how democratic nations are working together to make their citizens safer and more prosperous.
