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The Group of 20 (G20) has granted permanent membership to the African Union at its summit in New Delhi yesterday.
“This will strengthen the G20 and also strengthen the voice of the Global South,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his remarks, which were also posted to social media.
With 55 member states — six of which are currently suspended because they are under the rule of military governments — the AU has become the second regional organisation to join the G20, after the European Union.
“This membership, for which we have long been advocating, will provide a propitious framework for amplifying advocacy in favour of the continent and its effective contribution to meeting global challenges,” AU Commission head Moussa Faki Mahamat wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Since India assumed the rotating presidency of the G20 in December, Modi’s government has pushed for international consensus on issues that affect developing nations.
The African continent is home to about 17 percent of the world’s population.
However, until Saturday South Africa had been the only G20 member from the region.
Back in December, US President Joe Biden said G20 membership for the African Union had “been a long time in coming.”
At its summit in February, the AU formally declared its intent to become a permanent member of the G20.
Modi expressed his support for AU membership during the Business 20 summit in August.
Though there was widespread support for the African Union from G20 members, there was also some initial reticence among countries such as Australia and Indonesia.
The approval is seen by some experts as a victory for Indian diplomacy.
“During the pandemic, the developed world was busy using vaccines for their own people while African countries were ignored,” Rajiv Bhatia, the former Indian ambassador to Mexico and Myanmar and a distinguished fellow at the Gateway House think tank said.
“This is when nations such as India came forward to help them.
“When the Ukraine conflict happened, the developing world suffered due to the shortage of food, fuel and fertilisers.
“Keeping all this in mind and considering the heavy burden of debt that developing countries have to carry, India is pushing all these issues into the mainstream G20 agenda.” — Agencies.
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