Chinese President Xi Jinping and several African leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, took part in a China-Africa leaders meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Earlier, the BRICS leaders also held a meeting.
President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the BRICS leaders’ meeting, ahead of the of the G20 summit.
President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the #BRICS Informal meeting that took place ahead of the 2019 #G20 Leaders’ Summit held in Osaka, Japan. pic.twitter.com/GWMf8iKEQl
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) June 28, 2019
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Senagalese President Macky Sall and United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres were part of the leaders meeting with China’s President.
Earlier this week, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told a China-Africa forum in Beijing that Chinese development projects in Africa must be sustainable and denounced “outside forces” who seek to vilify cooperation by accusing China of creating debt traps.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $60 billion to African nations at a China-Africa summit on cooperation in September, matching the size of funds offered at the previous summit in Johannesburg in 2015.
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned about the protectionist steps he said some developed countries were taking.
“When facing such complex situations, BRICS countries should first of all work within their countries and properly take care of their affairs. We also have to increase our resilience and capability to cope with external risks. Meanwhile we should enhance unity and cooperation so that we create a new world relationship based on mutual respect, equality, justice and mutually beneficial cooperation, and create a favourable international environment,” says Jinping.
BRICS Leaders Group Photo:
Brazil ?? – President Jair Bolsonaro
Russia ?? – President Vladimir Putin Prime India ?? – Prime Minister Narendra Modi China ?? – President Xi Jinping
South Africa ?? – President @CyrilRamaphosa.#BRICS #G20 #BetterAfricaBetterWorld pic.twitter.com/I7vzy81KAn— PresidencyZA (@PresidencyZA) June 28, 2019
In a separate BRICS meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that attempts to lower the role of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) or to destroy it, are counter-productive to cooperative efforts.
“The situation in global economy is worrying. It is symptomatic that international trade has ceased to become a driver of economic growth and is going through a heavy burden of protectionism, and politically motivated restrictions and barriers. We can see weak business activity, growth of world debt, high volatility at financial and raw materials markets,” says Putin.
Putin added that the current situation in the global economy was worrying as global trade was feeling the effect of “protectionism, (and) politically motivated restrictions.”
The summit continues until Saturday.
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