African Union joins G20: Increasing the voice of the global South

The G20 currently comprises 19 countries and the European Union, representing about 85% of global GDP, more than 75% of global trade and about two-thirds of the world's population. The AU has 55 members with a combined GDP of $3 trillion and a population of about 1.4 billion. The block suspended membership from Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon after coups in six of these countries.

At the G20 Summit, which took place on September 9-10 in New Delhi, India, the African Union (AU) was officially invited to join. This is considered a diplomatic victory for Africa and a recognition of the increasingly important role of Africa in particular and the Southern world in general in global governance. Many key member countries of the G20 support the admission of the African Union.

G20 Summit of the world's leading developed and emerging economies . Photo: Internet.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally invited the African Union to join the G20. “With everyone's approval, I propose to the head of the African Union (AU) to assume permanent membership of the G20,” he said in his opening remarks at the summit.

Founded in 1999, the African Union is made up of 55 countries and covers almost the entire African continent. One of the organization's main goals is to eliminate “the remaining vestiges of colonialism and apartheid” and to promote unity and solidarity among its members.

The African Union will receive full permanent membership of the G20 from next year's summit in Brazil and will have a status equivalent to that of the European Union (EU), replacing its current status as an "invited international organization".

For the African Union (AU), an organization that brings together almost all African countries (55 countries), this is a historic diplomat victory because the African Union proposed to join the G20 7 years ago but failed. Before this year's G20 Summit, the only African country to be included in the G20 group was South Africa.

Indian Prime Minister Modi (left) welcomes African Union rotating chair Assoumani as he is officially invited to sit as a permanent member of the G20. Photo: Internet.

The AU's 55 member states, including Western Sahara, have long sought a more prominent role for the bloc in global bodies, including the United Nations Security Council. They also want to reform the global financial system, where the World Bank and others are forcing African countries to pay more for loans than others, further deepening their debt problems. Africa has now become a magnet for investment and political interests from a new generation of global powers beyond the United States and the continent's former European colonial powers. China is Africa's largest trading partner and one of its biggest lenders. Russia is its top arms supplier. Gulf states have also become some of the continent's biggest investors. Türkiye's largest overseas military base and embassy are in Somalia. Israel and Iran are both increasingly reaching out to the continent in search of partners. Some African leaders are eager to play the role of broker, as evidenced by their efforts to broker peace in Africa during the Ukraine-Russia conflict. With its new status, the AU could represent a continent with the world's largest free trade area. It is also rich in resources that the world needs to combat climate change. President of the Comores, who is also the Chairman of the African Union, Mr. Azali Assoumani, said that the G20's admission of the African Union has corrected an injustice because with 55 member countries, 1.4 billion people and a total GDP of nearly 3,000 billion USD, the African Union deserves a voice in the organization that brings together the world's largest economies. "The admission of the African Union with 55 member countries and a GDP of thousands of billions of USD into the G20 is a diplomatic victory. This is also a strong message, a great opportunity for Africa to better protect its interests in the organization that is the center of global economic governance."

In the invitation letter to the African Union to join the G20, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also affirmed that the African Union's joining the G20 is a right step towards a more equitable, inclusive and representative global governance architecture.

Many key G20 member states support the admission of the African Union. Ahead of this year's G20 Summit in India, Germany has been lobbying hard for the G20 to admit the African Union. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden called it a “long-awaited event.” At last year's G20 Summit in Indonesia, the US President voiced his support for the G20 to grant full membership to the African Union.

Assessing the significance of the African Union joining the G20, Kenyan President William Ruto said that full membership will allow Africa to influence the G20's decision-making process, including many policies directly related to Africa's interests such as combating climate change, reducing debt for poor countries or reforming multilateral international financial institutions.

Nigerian political researcher Emmanuel Igah said that the G20's admission of the African Union is a recognition of the growing role of Global South countries in global economic and geopolitical issues.

For observers, Africa's diplomatic victory at this year's G20 Summit is also a new sign that further confirms a prominent trend in the past few years on the international stage, which is the increasing economic and geopolitical role of the "Southern world", that is, developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This is also the assessment of Mr. Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, the country holds the next rotating presidency of the G20. The Brazilian President affirmed that when the G20 Summit takes place in Brazil next year, the voices of the Southern countries will be even stronger./.

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