Dynamics of African Union’s G20 membership

If pushed aggressively, African Union’s G20 membership could become one of the significant achievements of the Indian presidency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written to G20 leaders that the African Union may be given a membership in the grouping at the summit in September. If this happens, this could be an important achievement for India’s G20 presidency. Now, 96 per cent of the African population is out of the G20. With just one addition, 54 more African countries could be represented in the G21. Currently, South Africa is the only G20 member from the continent.

While speaking at the UN General Assembly in September, Macky Sall, the Senegalese President and Chairperson of the African Union, advocated a seat for the union within the G20 “so that Africa can, at last, be represented where decisions are taken that affect 1.4 billion Africans." Since then a new momentum has been built to push this initiative.

If the European Union (EU) can represent 27 members in the G20, the African Union could also represent its 55 members. Together these countries constitute the eighth largest economy in the world. Moreover, crucial issues concerning Climate Change, debt restructuring, urbanisation, migration, pandemics, and security cannot be meaningfully discussed without bringing Africa to the table.

Africa with its recent growth history, young population, and plenty of success stories in agriculture, telecommunications, consumer markets, banking, etc. is much more confident today than any time in the recent past. Many of the fastest growing economies of the world are in Africa. The resurgent Africa has expressed its ambition through Agenda 2063 and its 15 flagship projects.

When there are trends towards protectionism in the world, Africa has taken a bold step in the opposite direction by launching the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). As almost every country in the continent is a member, this is the largest free trade area in the world by number of countries.

Realising the importance of Africa for the global economy, the union is occasionally invited to G20 summits. Under the Chinese presidency in 2016, the G20 started supporting African industrialisation. To improve private investment in Africa, a compact with Africa was created under the German presidency in 2017. Similarly, the Italian presidency in 2021 hosted the Africa Advisory Group. Recently, a group of prominent scholars from G20 nations have argued that these token measures “consign Africa to a passive, consultative, or at best diminutive role”. This might change if an additional seat is provided to the union.

The summary of deliberations of the Voices of Global South Summit held earlier this year did not mention anything about the African Union’s membership aspiration. The Chair’s summary of G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in March only indicated that ministers were “supportive of further deepening cooperation between the G20 and regional partners, including African partners”. However, at the press conference after the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted that "we have agreed that the African Union will henceforth be a full member of the G20, just as the European Union has been participating in this work for several years."

At the US-African leaders summit in December 2022, US President Joe Biden announced that he would support the African Union joining as a full member of the G20. Similarly, at the co-ordination meeting with the African Union in July 2022, European Council President Charles Michel mentioned that the EU would support African Union’s G20 membership. French President Emmanuel Macron insisted at the last G20 summit in Bali that the African Union should have a seat at the G20 table.

In the last few months, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada have all indicated that they would support the African Union’s G20 membership bid. Apart from the Western powers, Brazil, China, Indonesia, and Russia have also supported the African Union’s G20 membership. Now India as a presidency country has also put its weight behind the African Union’s G20 membership.

If New Delhi really wants to see the African Union as a G20 member by September, the next few weeks are going to be crucial. Even if many members have indicated their support, a high-level outreach to all G20 members is crucial. Modi’s visits to the United States and France can be used to build a broader consensus on the issue.

Some of the countries might have shown support for political correctness, it needs to be firmed up. Others who have not made any commitment so far might have reservations. There could be arguments of the G20 losing its effectiveness with an expansion. Since India has now taken this initiative, it needs to put its full diplomatic weight behind the move.

Gulshan Sachdeva is Professor, Centre for European Studies, and Co-ordinator, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.