African Union made permanent member
Sandeep Dikshit
New Delhi, September 9
The G20 members agreed on Saturday to grant permanent membership to the African Union (AU) in an effort to make the group more representative.
The 18th G20 Summit, the first to be hosted by India, began on Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his opening remarks, inviting the AU, represented by the current Chairperson and President of Comoros Azali Assoumani, to take a seat at the table of G20 leaders as a permanent member.
‘Will enable Africa get a stronger voice’
- Expressing satisfaction over the decision, AU Chairman and Comoros President Azali Assoumani said the AU has a lot to bring to the G20 table
- The inclusion will give Africa and the Global South a stronger voice. He also welcomed the opportunity to work together
“We welcome the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 and strongly believe that its inclusion into the G20 will significantly contribute to addressing the global challenges of our time,” noted the PM.
The AU is the second regional organisation after the European Union to have full membership of G20, upgraded from its existing designation as an “invited international organisation”. The AU is a 54-country organisation, a bulk of which are in Africa. All G20 leaders state that their bloc keeps uppermost the concerns of least developed countries. That the African contingent constitutes almost a quarter of the UN’s membership is another factor. The move was proposed by PM Modi in June and followed up by letters to all other leaders of G20 member countries proposing full membership to the AU at the summit.
The path had been smoothed with US President Joe Biden calling for full membership for the AU at the US-Africa Summit in December last year.
