Cairo: Egypt announced Saturday that it will host and organize an official meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) for the first time since the group's establishment in 1999. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that the meeting, scheduled for early September, will address food security issues at the regional and global levels.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the Personal Representative of the Egyptian President to the G20 and Assistant Foreign Minister Ambassador Ragy Al-Etreby reached a final agreement on Egypt hosting an official G20 meeting. This agreement was made on the sidelines of Egypt's participation as a guest of the group in the meeting of the Personal Representatives of the G20 leaders held in South Africa from June 25 to 27.
Al-Etreby highlighted that it is rare for member states to agree to hold a G20 meeting in a non-member state. He noted that the meeting will concentrate on discussing food security issues at the regional and global levels, which is a top priority for Egypt and the countries of the African continent and the developing world. This comes in light of ongoing discussions around sustainable agriculture, nationalizing industry, regional and international trade, infrastructure development, technology transfer, financing, and other sustainable development issues.