JOHANNESBURG (AFP)

The G20 summit kicked off in Johannesburg on Saturday, attended by a host of world leaders.

The meeting includes French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The US is not present at the summit.

On Saturday, European leaders are to meet on the sidelines of the summit to discuss Ukraine, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said. She said a follow-up meeting would be held at an EU-Africa Union summit in Angola on Monday and Tuesday.

Host South Africa is projecting optimism that it will get backing for its G20 aims to reduce economic inequalities, shrink debt for low-income countries, secure help for clean-energy transitions, and establish a critical minerals pact.

"As South Africa, we are hoping that we will have the leaders' declaration adopted, which will set a new and continuing agenda for the world, particularly the G20," President Cyril Ramaphosa said late Friday.

Political negotiators from the participating countries finalised on Friday a final draft joint text for the leaders to agree on, sources told AFP. They were not authorised to divulge the draft's contents.

Ramaphosa has been joined by other leaders in stressing that the G20 was an important platform for multilateral cooperation.

"Multilateralism is our best, maybe our only defence against disruption, violence and chaos. And South Africa put multilateralism to work," Antonio Costa, European Council president, told a pre-summit press conference.

The G20 is a grouping of 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union. It represents 85 percent of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world's population.

The United States will host next year's G20 summit at a golf club owned by Trump in Florida.