South African President Kgalema Motlanthe arrived in London on Tuesday night ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) summit on April 2.

He is supported at the summit by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, National Treasury director-general Lesetja Kganyago and senior government officials, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Tuesday.

"As the only African country in the G20, South Africa has consistently stressed that a global response is required to mitigate the impact of the [economic] crisis and prevent its contagion to emerging markets and developing countries, in particular, Africa," it said in a statement.

The G20 summit would be held against the backdrop of the raging global financial crisis.

Hopes to agree on a plan to restore global growth development were based on four pillars.
- stabilising global finance by unblocking credit and taking decisive, coordinated and temporary national action to restore confidence in the financial system;
- countering the global recession by boosting domestic demand through coordinated fiscal and monetary policy actions that took account of medium-term sustainability and ensuring that the global economy remained open for trade and capital flows;
- deploying resources to support demand and sustain investment in developing countries to prevent further deepening of the global recession and providing a more effective boost to countercyclical efforts on a global scale; and
- laying the foundation for a sustainable recovery on the basis of a more balanced and inclusive world economy premised on a stronger and more equitable system of global economic multilateralism.