THIS WEEKEND WILL see a meeting of (most of) the G20 in South Africa, with an invite for Ireland meaning it will be our debut appearance at the summit.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin will head up an Irish delegation at the Group of 20 in Johannesburg, where European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Canada’s Mark Carney will be among those at the high-level annual gathering.

They will join nations from the world, including China, India, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

But the US and its president Donald Trump is boycotting the this year’s summit, with his ally Javier Milei’s Argentina also set to miss out. Russia president Vladimir Putin will also be a no-show, but he is reported to be sending a delegation.

While the G20 is normally these core nations and their central banks, other leaders are sometimes also invited. Spain, Singapore and Egypt have been common guests in the past, while Switzerland has often been a guest to partake the discussions on finance at each summit.

Previous years have seen Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy make a guest appearance, as happened in 2022 following Russia’s invasion.

The historic appearance of Ireland at the G20 has been credited to our own history with host nation South Africa, going back to its struggles to break free of apartheid and regain democracy in 1994.

‘Tremoundous honour’

Martin called the invite a “tremendous honour” and added that it would help develop Ireland’s relationship with other nations.

He said that the government has worked extensively on the summit in recent months, with Cabinet ministers going back and forward to work with their counterparts.

The Fianna Fáil leader said in a statement that Ireland’s participation in the G20 has offered a unique opportunity to “work with the world’s largest economies to examine how best to tackle the large-scale challenges we all face and ways we can work together”.

Officials believe the invite came about partly due to Ireland being seen by South Africa as distinct in Europe, due to both states being former colonies.

When he made an official state visit to Ireland last month, South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa told outgoing president Michael D Higgins that Ireland is a “homecoming” for any South Africans visiting the country.

President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina today welcomed the President of the Republic of South Africa @CyrilRamaphosa to Áras an Uachtaráin on an Official Visit. You can read the President’s speech from the event at https://t.co/85c63kdtFU pic.twitter.com/gPFHPEVuOu

— President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) October 8, 2025

Both nations have been also been vocal critics on the world stage of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

South Africa leadership

While it’s 12 years since the death of legendary leader Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s current senior leadership still draws its links from those early years of freedom.

Its president Ramaphosa was Mandela’s right-hand man during the negotiations that ended apartheid. He also served as general secretary of the African National Congress (ANC) party in those initial years of democracy in the state.

Ramaphosa has his own unique links to Ireland which give him an insight into the workings of this country. In 2000, he was part of a three-person oversight panel that supervised the decommissioning of IRA weapons as part of the peace process.

But as high-minded as the summit will be, it’s also a chance for Ireland to talk up its trade links to South Africa, through the likes of Kerrygold and whiskey. Kerrygold exporter Ornua has an office in Port Elizabeth in South Africa (the butter in particular is considered a premium product in the country)

In terms of South Africa’s overall commerce links with Ireland, there is a combined trade of €5.8 billion between the two countries. This places South Africa as equivalent to trade with Mexico or Turkey from Ireland’s point of view. 

For the Taoiseach, his schedule will see him attending Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia events on Friday.

He will also attend a fireside chat on Friday as part of a wider forum involving Starmer, von der Leyen and South Africa’s Ramaphosa.

The Taoiseach is expected to pledge support for aid replenishment, and is due to address the G20 summit itself on Saturday during the opening session on sustainable economic growth for the poorer nations.

He’ll be returning to the theme later in the day where he’s expected to speak during a session on ensuring a ‘resilient world’ in the face of threats including climate change.

There will be some spice to the visit as – midway through the summit – the Ireland and South Africa rugby teams will be facing each other at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday evening.

It’s unclear at this point how this year’s G20 will go, mainly due to the boycott of Trump’s US amid regular attacks on the hosts.

Opinion is divided on whether it will harm the effectiveness of negotiations.