South Africa invites Vietnam to attend 2025 G20 summit

The invitation was extended by President Ramaphosa, who is also president of the African National Congress, during a phone conversation with Vietnamese Party General Secretary To Lam on Tuesday, according to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the call, the South African leader affirmed that his country highly values the solidarity and cooperative ties between the African National Congress and the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

He thanked General Secretary Lam for taking the time to engage in the conversation, which he described as a historic dialogue “bridging oceans and geographic distances” to reinforce the solidarity between the two parties and open new opportunities for bilateral cooperation.

President Ramaphosa also congratulated Vietnam on successfully hosting the recent fourth Partnership for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Summit in Hanoi.

As the chair of the G20, President Ramaphosa officially invited Vietnam’s high-ranking leaders to attend the 2025 G20 Summit, which is scheduled to take place on November 22-23 in Johannesburg.

The G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union, representing the world’s major advanced and emerging economies.

Ramaphosa also extended an invitation to a high-level CPV delegation to attend the G20 Political Parties Conference, the G20 Summit, and other related events in South Africa.

The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation to strengthen political trust and promote the effectiveness of the partnership for cooperation and development between Vietnam and South Africa.

Ramaphosa noted that South Africa values the CPV’s experience in party building and leadership in economic and social development.

Both leaders agreed to boost cooperation in economy, trade, and investment, and to work toward increasing bilateral trade to match the two countries’ potential.

They pledged to expand collaboration in education, defense, and security, while exploring new areas of potential cooperation such as energy, mining, sustainable resource management, infrastructure development, and climate change response.

On this occasion, President Ramaphosa extended an invitation for General Secretary Lam to visit South Africa in the near future.

In return, the Vietnamese Party leader invited the South African president to visit Vietnam in 2025 to discuss concrete measures to further advance bilateral cooperation.

Both leaders tasked their respective foreign ministries with arranging the visits at a mutually convenient time.