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The European Union will support the African Union becoming a member of G20 as proposed by India, said EU council president Charles Michel on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in June, wrote to G20 leaders on the issue and the proposal was formally included in the draft communique prepared for the group’s summit during the third G20 Sherpas meeting in Hampi in July. India, as G20 president, will host a two-day summit of the group starting Saturday in New Delhi.
"The European Union is looking forward to welcoming the African Union as a permanent member of the G20," Michel said at a media briefing in Delhi. G20 should be used to better cater to multilateral needs, he said.
Michel said G20 members are still working on a joint statement that will be acceptable to all of them. He condemned Russia for the war in Ukraine.
The war is the biggest hurdle in preparing a final draft of the G20 Leaders’ joint statement, officials present at the recently concluded fourth G20 Sherpa meeting in Nuh, Haryana, had told Business Standard.
Led by India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, India officials are racing against time to hammer out the final statement to be adopted by Modi and other G20 leaders on Sunday.
It has been a struggle to create consensus in several areas – including energy transition, trade, and health – given that almost all ministerial meetings of the various G20 working groups have ended without joint communiques.
Instead, a series of 'Chairman’s Summary and Outcomes Documents' have been issued with a clarification that nations remain divided over the Ukraine issue.
