The African Union became a permanent member of the Group of Twenty. This was announced by the current chairman of the G20 – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – at the group’s summit in Delhi. The decision was widely expected before the start of the summit, which opened on Saturday. This step will further contribute to Fashion’s efforts to make India a major player in the so-called Global South, writes the BBC.
“We welcome the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 and are firmly convinced that its inclusion will make a significant contribution to solving the global problems of our time,” says the draft declaration following the summit, which was seen by Reuters.
Now the G20 has twenty-one members, including the European Union, which was the only full-fledged member bloc. The USA, China and Russia are also among the members of the group. The G20 accounted for about 85% of world GDP, more than 75% of world trade and about two-thirds of the planet’s population. With the admission to the group of the African Union, which unites 55 states, the figures will increase even more.
The current G20 summit is being held in South Asia for the first time. Among the meeting participants are US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Risha Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron. The leaders of Russia and China – Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping – are not present at the forum. Instead of Russian Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came to the summit in Delia.