Johannesburg: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met South African president Cyril Ramaphosa on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg on Sunday and thanked him for the warm hospitality and successful conduct of the event.
This was the first time the G20 Summit was hosted by an African country. The Indian Prime Minister appreciated efforts during the South African summit to take forward and build on decisions reached during the New Delhi G20 Summit.
“Had an excellent meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa during the G20 Summit in Johannesburg. We reviewed the full range of the India-South Africa partnership, especially in boosting linkages of commerce, culture, investment and diversifying cooperation in technology, skilling, AI, critical minerals and more. Congratulated President Ramaphosa for South Africa’s successful G20 Presidency,” PM Modi posted on X after his interaction.
Both le
aders recalled the historical links that underpin India – South Africa ties and reviewed bilateral ties. They expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved in various fields of cooperation, including trade and investment, food security, skill development, mining, youth exchange and people-to- people ties.
Prime Minister Modi and president Ramaphosa discussed ways to enhance cooperation in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Public Infrastructure and critical minerals. The leaders welcomed the growing presence of Indian firms in South Africa and agreed to facilitate mutual investments, especially in infrastructure, technology, innovation, mining and start-up sectors.
Prime Minister Modi also thanked president Ramaphosa for the efforts made by South Africa to relocate cheetahs to India and invited him to join the International Big Cat Alliance led by India.
Both Modi and Ramaphosa agreed to work jointly to amplify the voice of the Global South. In this context, the Prime Minister appreciated the initiative taken by South Africa to hold the IBSA leaders meeting. IBSA is a India, Brazil, South Africa dialogue forum that takes forward cooperation between these countries. President Ramaphosa assured South Africa’s full support to India’s upcoming chairship of BRICS in 2026.