Tomorrow, Monday, Cairo will witness a historic and exceptional event with the holding of an official G20 meeting, a precedent that is the first of its kind, from September 1 to 3, 2025. This will be the first official G20 meeting held outside the member countries since its establishment in 1999.

Below are the reasons behind Egypt’s selection to host this important meeting:

• This exceptional event crowns Egypt’s distinguished participation as a guest country in the group’s meetings for the third consecutive year and the fifth time overall.
• The meeting is held in Egypt in recognition of its regional weight and tangible contribution to addressing the most prominent issues on the international stage.
• Hosting the meeting in Egypt is a culmination of Egypt’s efforts to advance multilateral negotiation tracks, taking into account the concerns and priorities of developing countries, especially African countries, and amplifying their voice in various international and regional forums.
• The meeting will be held in coordination with South Africa’s presidency of the G20 this year to discuss the growing issue of food security and its multiple dimensions.
• A large number of G20 member countries and guest countries participating under South Africa’s presidency will attend the meeting, along with several international organizations and financial institutions.
• The meeting will address the main outputs of the G20’s working group on food security, alongside negotiations on the ministerial statement on global food security expected to be adopted during the group’s ministerial meeting in South Africa on September 19, 2025, and launched as one of the official documents issued by the G20 summit scheduled for Johannesburg on September 22-23, 2025.
• Egypt’s selection to host the meeting came based on understandings reached between Dr. Badr Abdel-Aati, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, and his South African counterpart Ronald Lamola.
• Ambassador Ragy Eltoraby, the personal representative of the President to the G20 and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, and his South African counterpart reached a final agreement for Egypt to host and organize an official G20 meeting on food security in early September.
• This agreement was made on the sidelines of Egypt’s participation as a guest in the meeting of the personal representatives of the G20 leaders, held in South Africa from June 25 to 27.
• It is rare for member countries to agree to hold a G20 meeting in a non-member country.
• This exception confirms the added value Egypt represents in G20 discussions and the priority given to economic diplomacy in Egyptian foreign policy.
• Choosing Egypt as the meeting venue reflects its status and active participation in various G20 meetings over all the years Egypt was invited as a guest, including the past three years, factors that led member countries to express their full support for this agreement during discussions among G20 leaders’ representatives.
• The meeting will focus on food security issues at regional and global levels, a top priority for Egypt, African countries in particular, and the developing world in general, especially as it relates to sustainable agriculture, industrial localization, regional and international trade, infrastructure development, technology transfer, financing, and other sustainable development topics.
• The consultations on the Egyptian side were led by the International Economic Relations Sector at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Egyptian Embassy in Pretoria.