South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma arrived in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday ahead of President Thabo Mbeki who is scheduled to depart South Africa on Tuesday for the G-77 plus China summit.

The South African department of foreign affairs said in a statement on Sunday that Mbeki and his delegation would participate in the summit within the context of South Africa's stated commitment to strengthen South-South relations.

Mbeki, who is expected to address the summit on Wednesday, will return to South Africa on Thursday ahead of the June 16 Youth Day Commemoration rally.

The summit is the largest gathering of leaders of the South since the recently held Africa-Asia summit of heads of state and government held in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 21-22, 2005.

The summit will discuss ties between states of the North and the South, the prospect of hiking trade between the rich and poor countries as well as assessing outcome of the first summit of this level held in Cuba five years ago.

G77, the largest organization of the developing countries after the United Nations, was established by 77 developing countries originally. Though it is enlarged to over 130 members now, the original name was kept.

Source: Xinhua