AFP reported that the African Union officially accepted the permanent membership seat of the G20 on September 9th, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The organization, with 55 African member states, now holds the same status as the European Union within the G20.
The G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9th.
The G20 summit opened in New Delhi on the morning of September 9th and is scheduled to last two days. Before delivering his opening remarks, Prime Minister Modi greeted the Chair of the African Union, currently President Azali Assoumani of Comoros, with a warm embrace.
According to Prime Minister Modi, India has proposed granting permanent G20 membership to the African Union, stating that all members support the proposal. "With the approval of everyone, I propose that the African Union leader take over the seat as a permanent G20 member," Modi said, striking the gavel in a ceremonial gesture.
Mr. Assoumani then took a seat next to the world leaders at the invitation of the host country's Foreign Minister, S. Jaishankar.
The expansion of the G20 is seen as a significant diplomatic victory for Prime Minister Modi. "The world is experiencing a profound crisis of confidence. War has deepened this erosion of trust. If we can defeat Covid-19, we can also overcome this shared crisis of confidence," Prime Minister Modi stated.
The African Union's admission to the G20 would give the continent a greater voice on the international stage. Previously, South Africa was the only African country to be a G20 member.
The G20 was established after the 1999 Asian financial crisis to seek better international economic cooperation in addressing cross-border crises.
In the early years, only the economic and financial ministers met, but later, after the 2008 financial crisis, the leaders of all member states decided to meet once a year.
However, this year's conference was missing some prominent figures such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
India sparks controversy by replacing the name 'India' with 'Bharat' on its G20 summit invitation.
Before the African Union joined, the G20 had 19 member countries and the European Union, representing approximately 85% of global GDP, over 75% of global trade, and about two-thirds of the world's population.
Key themes this year include calls for multilateral financial institutions to lend more money to developing countries, reforms to the international debt structure, regulation of digital currencies, and the impact of geopolitics on food and energy security.
Source link
Comment (0)