By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African Union (AU) became a permanent member of the G20 on Saturday, following a proposal put forth by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that was welcomed by all member countries.
Thereafter, PM Modi invited the President of the Union of Comoros and Chairperson of the African Union (AU), Azali Assoumani, to take his seat at the G20 high table.
The expansion of the bloc is a notable diplomatic victory for Modi, who faces national elections next year and has used hosting rights for this year’s forum to burnish his image as an international statesman.
Before his opening speech, Modi greeted African Union chair Azali Assoumani with a warm hug.
“India put a proposal to give permanent membership of G20 to the African Union. I believe that with we have everyone’s agreement on this,” Modi said in his opening address to the summit.
“With everyone’s approval, I request the African Union head to take his seat as a permanent G20 member,” he added, banging a ceremonial gavel.
Assoumani then took his seat among world leaders at the invitation of India’s foreign affairs minister S. Jaishankar.
Finding consensus among members has been increasingly difficult in recent years with deep divisions on the Ukraine war.
“The world has a huge crisis of trust,” Modi said.
“War has made this trust deficit deeper. If we can defeat Covid, we can also conquer this mutual trust crisis.”
The AU is an influential organisation comprising 55 member states that make up the countries of the African continent.