The Russian diplomat is expected to speak on issues such as Moscow's opposition to trade wars and unilateral restrictions

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in South Africa to attend a meeting of the foreign affairs ministers of member states of the G20. The two-day event from February 20-21 is being hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Lavrov will address a number of issues at the gathering, including the "need to reject the confrontational stance taken by neoliberal elites and propose concrete measures to overcome destructive trends," according to a Foreign Ministry press release issued on Wednesday.

"The Russian minister will also reiterate Russia's opposition to trade wars, unilateral restrictions and other manifestations of discriminatory approaches," it added.

The diplomat is also scheduled to hold a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the meeting, which is taking place under the theme: 'Solidarity, equality, and sustainability'.

South Africa officially assumed the rotating leadership of the intergovernmental forum in December, succeeding Brazil at the group's November summit in Rio de Janeiro. Pretoria had been the sole African voice in the Group of 20 major economies until the African Union was formally admitted as a member at the bloc's summit in New Delhi, India in 2023.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged to use his country's chairmanship to advance Africa and the Global South's development priorities, including addressing the impacts of climate change.

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However, the US, which is expected to assume the G20 presidency in November this year, has opposed Pretoria's proposed plans.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he will skip the G20 meeting in South Africa because Pretoria is "doing very bad things," including using its presidency to promote solidarity, equality, sustainability, and climate change issues.

On Wednesday, Moscow described South Africa's chairmanship as a "landmark event for Pretoria and the entire African continent."

Speaking to Russian lawmakers before departing for Johannesburg, Lavrov said the G20 should be used to teach "Western colleagues to work productively together, rather than to impose their unilateral approaches."

"In the G20, together with like-minded BRICS countries and other countries of the Global South and East, we have managed to stop the West's attempts to 'Ukrainize' the agenda, to impose unequal discriminatory decisions in the areas of economics, finance, trade and climate," he stated.

Lavrov's trip to South Africa follows his return from Saudi Arabia, where he led a Russian delegation for talks with US officials in Riyadh on Tuesday about ending the Ukraine conflict.