African Union To Receive Permanent Membership Status Under G20

September 7, 2023September 16, 2023 celemagazine

According to sources quoted by Bloomberg on Thursday, the G20 alliance, a group of significant countries, has apparently agreed to grant the African Union (AU) permanent membership status.

As existing members gathered for a meeting in India to support the bloc’s proposal, officials indicated on Friday that the African Union seemed destined to become the G20’s newest member.

Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister and host of the G20 demanded that the pan-African organization be admitted as a permanent member, claiming that emerging countries need more influence over international policy.

Washington has endorsed the plan, and the European Union announced on Friday that it would support it as well.

According to Charles Michel, president of the European Council, “I look forward to welcoming the AU as a permanent member of the G20” in New Delhi, where the two-day G20 summit starts on Saturday.

Presently, the Group of 20 major economies is made up of 19 nations and the European Union, accounting for about 85% of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of its population.

However, the only other G20 member from the African continent is South Africa.

The Organisation of African Unity was dissolved in 2002, and the AU, with its headquarters in Ethiopia, was established.

It has 55 members when fully constituted, but six junta-run countries are now suspended. With almost 1.4 billion inhabitants, it has a $3 trillion GDP overall.

Vinay Kwatra, the head of India’s foreign service, predicted that the summit’s decision on AU membership would be announced on Saturday morning.

The AU “to join the G20 as a permanent member,” stated U.S. President Joe Biden in December 2022, adding that it had “been a long time coming, but it’s going to come.”

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, echoed the position on Tuesday while talking about the United States’ top priorities for the meeting in New Delhi.

In addition, we are excited to officially welcome the African Union as the G20’s newest permanent member. We think the African Union’s voice will strengthen the G20,” Sullivan said at a briefing at the White House.