South African President Cyril Ramaphosa landed in Calgary on Sunday, where he was greeted by a welcome delegation ahead of the 2025 Group of Seven (G7) summit. The high-profile meeting is being held this week at a secluded mountain resort in Kananaskis, Alberta, nestled in the Canadian Rockies. Leaders from the world’s largest economies—including the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom—are gathering to discuss key global issues. This year’s summit is heavily overshadowed by several major crises, including rising tensions between Israel and Iran, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and unresolved trade disputes involving the United States.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also attending and is expected to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. The meeting comes just months after a contentious Oval Office exchange that strained diplomatic ties between Kyiv and Washington.
President Ramaphosa is also scheduled to meet with President Trump during the summit. It will mark their first bilateral discussion since a tense meeting in May, during which Trump reportedly confronted Ramaphosa with unfounded allegations of a “genocide” against white South Africans—claims widely dismissed by experts and the South African government. The G7 summit runs through the week, with a focus on security, global economic stability, and multilateral cooperation in an increasingly fractured world.
