The wait is over. It’s official now. The African Union, which had been lobbying for membership in the G20 for a long time, finally joined the group on Saturday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended an invitation during the summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced during a short televised inaugural session making the 55-member African bloc the first new member of the G20 since its creation in 1999 to deal with a series of financial crises.
PM Modi while inviting AU Chairperson Azali Assoumani to take the seat as a full member of the G20, said,
“In keeping with the sentiment of sabka saath (taking along everyone), India had proposed that the African Union should be given permanent membership of the G20. I believe we all agree on this proposal. With your agreement (he banged the gavel thrice)”.
He did this before extending an invitation to the president of the African Union to join the G20 permanently.
Azali Assoumani, president of the Comoro Islands and the current chair of the African Union, was ushered to his seat by S. Jaishankar, minister of external affairs. Before the G20 leaders went into closed-door deliberations, Modi gave Assoumani a bear hug.
Inclusion Of African Union In G20
First and foremost among those who have pushed for the African Union (AU) to join the Group of Twenty (G20) is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the third G20 Sherpas meeting in Hampi, Karnataka, in July, Modi’s proposal to grant the AU full membership within the group was inserted into the final communiqué for the summit. Modi had first made this request in a letter to G20 leaders in June.
Key members of the G7, such as Japan, supported the initiative to increase the voice of African countries, which are part of the Global South, in the framework of global governance. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has made it reluctant to go against the tide, and Russia’s efforts to win over more African states as a means of mitigating the isolation it has felt from the West in the wake of the Ukraine crisis have made Russia eager to court the continent.
With G20 membership, the AU can speak for a continent that is home to the largest free trade area in the world and has access to a wealth of resources that are essential for battling climate change. Even though Africa makes up a small portion of the world’s emissions, it suffers the most from climate change.
Conclusion
India hopes to see results in areas where it has led signature initiatives, including financing for climate transition, digital public infrastructure, accelerated implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and reform of global institutions and multilateral development banks, while negotiations on a draft leaders’ declaration remain bogged down over the text to refer to the Ukraine crisis.
During its G20 presidency, India has also established itself as the “voice of the global south,” and one of these efforts has been to push for the inclusion of the African Union in the group of the world’s richest economies.
