Voice of Africa to grow stronger with AU inclusion in G20: SA top official

The voice of Africa and the Global South will "grow stronger" after the African Union's inclusion in the G20, a top South African official said on Saturday.

Vincent Magwenya, a spokesperson for South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa said, the African Union joining the bloc signals a "very positive step" towards the reforms that have been sought in the United Nations Security Council and various global multilateral institutions.

The voice of the continent and the Global South will "grow stronger" globally, he told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.

"We are very thankful and delighted about the leadership Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demonstrated," Magwenya said when asked about India's role in the inclusion of the 55-nation grouping in the G20.

Modi has sought to "define this summit around the inclusion of the Global South, smaller developing countries," he said.

The inclusion of the African Union also signals a "very positive step towards the kind of reforms we have always advocated" with respect to the United Nations Security Council and various global multilateral financial institutions, he said.

All member countries of the G20 accepted Modi's proposal to bring the African Union -- a key bloc of the Global South -- into the elite group of the world's top economies.

"With support from all of you, I invite the African Union to join the G20," Modi said at the summit.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar then escorted Union of Comoros President and African Union Chairperson Azali Assoumani to his seat at the G20 high table.

Modi hugged Assoumani as the African Union became a member of the influential bloc.

G20 member countries represent around 85 per cent of global GDP, over 75 per cent of global trade and about two-thirds of the world's population.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.

Hours after the African Union joined the G20, a senior delegate from South Africa also said the voice of Africa and the Global South will "grow stronger globally" after the African Union's inclusion.

The delegate told PTI on the condition of anonymity that South Africa always expected the African Union's inclusion to happen.

"We are very happy, especially considering that South Africa has always supported the inclusion of the African Union in the G20, which will give our continent a voice on a bigger platform globally, not only for the African continent but the Global South (as well)," she said.

On India's presidency of the G20, she said it was heartening to see the African Union become a permanent member of the bloc at the Leaders' Summit in New Delhi.

The African Union's inclusion as a permanent member is the influential bloc's first expansion since its inception in 1999.

The South African delegate said her country had hoped that the inclusion of the African Union in the G20 would be realised during the summit "but of course it was just a hope from our side".

"This is certainly a very good thing and in terms of development of our countries," she said, adding that it will bring them closer to other G20 nations.

The voice of Africa and the Global South is growing and its issues can now be raised on a multilateral fora, the delegate said.

"It can be a better world if we all work together," she added.

South Africa President Ramaphosa is attending the summit, which got underway at the newly built international convention centre Bharat Mandapam on Saturday. He is expected to address the media on Sunday, the delegate said, though there is no official word yet.

On South Africa's expectation from the summit, the delegate said they are hoping for a conversation on "just transition" in view of climate change.

"If that conversation can be taken forward as we are leading up to COP28 later this year, South Africa will feel a lot better in this regard," she said.

The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will take place from November 30 to December 12 in the UAE.

After assuming presidency of the G20 last December, India held around 200 meetings related to the bloc across the country.

The G20 Summit will end on Sunday. India's tenure leading the grouping ends on November 30, after which it will hand over the rotating presidency to Brazil.