Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for the African Union (AU) to become a member of the G20, the club of the world’s richest countries due to meet in India in September.
“We have invited the African Union with the intention of granting it permanent membership in the G20,” Narendra Modi stated at the B20 business gathering conducted ahead of the G20 summit on September 9 and 10.
In December, US Vice President Joe Biden reiterated his desire for the African Union to become a permanent member of the G20, saying that “it was going to happen.”
Only South Africa is presently a member of the G20, which brings together 19 of the world’s top economies plus the European Union, comprising 85% of global GDP and two-thirds of global population.
The AU is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, and has 55 member nations with a combined GDP of three trillion dollars.
The Indian Prime Minister also stated that his nation, China’s main adversary, was capable of compensating for supply issues created by the Covid situation.
Mr Modi stated that India is the “solution” to establishing a “reliable global supply chain” since “the world has changed a lot since Covid-19.”
Mr. Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping one-on-one at the BRICS meeting (group of big rising nations) in South Africa on Thursday.