The announcement came at the opening of the G20 summit, one that comes as growing global rifts and the absence of key players threatened to make reaching consensus on the thorniest issues elusive.
The African Union has been granted permanent member status in the Group of 20 top world economies, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday, adding momentum to his drive to give a greater voice to the Global South as host of this year’s annual summit.
Modi addressed the delegates from behind a nameplate that listed his country not as India but as “Bharat,” an ancient Sanskrit name championed by his Hindu nationalist supporters.
The announcement came as Modi opened the weekend summit of the G20, one that comes as growing global rifts and the absence of key players threatened to make reaching consensus on the thorniest issues elusive.
There was widespread support, however, for adding the AU to the G20, making it the second regional bloc to become a permanent member after the European Union.
Modi rapped his gavel three times before announcing the move to applause in the room.
He shook hands with the current AU chair, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, and embraced him warmly before inviting him to sit at the table.
“I invite the representative of the African Union to take his place as a permanent member of the G20,” Modi said.
Modi has made giving voice to the Global South a centerpiece of this year’s summit, and adding the AU at the outset was a strong step in that direction.
With much of the world’s focus on the Russian war against Ukraine, India has been working to try and direct more attention to addressing the needs of the developing world at the summit — though it is impossible to decouple many issues, such as food and energy security, from the European conflict.
As the summit opened, at least a fifth of G20 heads were not in New Delhi. The leaders of Russia and China opted not to come, ensuring no tough face-to-face conversations with their American and European counterparts over multiple disputes, most acutely the war in Ukraine. Spain’s president couldn’t make it due to COVID-19, and Mexico’s president decided to miss it, too.
A series of preparatory meetings leading to this weekend’s meeting failed to produce agreements due to increasingly fractious rifts among the world’s global powers, largely due to differences over Ukraine. Ending the summit without such a statement would underscore how strained relations have become and tarnish the image Modi has tried to cultivate of India as a global problem solver.
Participants arriving in the Indian capital were greeted by streets cleared of traffic, and graced with fresh flowers and seemingly endless posters featuring slogans and Modi’s face.
