The importance of the participation of the African Union in the G20 Currently, the group of 55 African countries has the same position as t...
The importance of the participation of the African Union in the G20
Currently, the group of 55 African countries has the same position as the European Union in the G20.
The G20 is a great confidence for Africa considering that it has more than 50 countries that want to play a role in the eyes of the world.
Last year, US President Joe Biden asked for the AU to be a permanent member of the G20.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that the group has been invited to participate in the G20 meeting which his country is hosting.
The African Union wants to be a full member of the group for seven years, as the spokesperson of the group Ebba Kalonda said.
So far, South Africa is the only member of the group from African countries.
Let's look at some things about the AU and what its membership means in a world where Africa is a talking point in terms of climate change, food shortages, migration and other problems.
What does this mean for Africa?
Its permanent membership in the G20 is a sign of progress in a continent that has a population of about 1.3 billion and is expected to double by 2050, where it will account for a quarter of the population. world.
The AU, which has 55 members, including Western Sahara, which is in conflict, has been pushing for a better opportunity in various international organizations, including the United Nations Security Council.
They also want a change in the international financial system - including the World Bank and other sectors.
Africa is getting more and more people who want to invest and want to form alliances with the new major countries of the world than the United States and the countries that have colonized the continent of Europe.
China is Africa's largest trading partner and largest creditor. Russia, on the other hand, was the country that provided the most weapons.
Then the countries of the Gulf region were the countries that invested the most in the continent. Turkey's largest military base and embassy are both located in Somalia.
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Israel and Iran are expanding their arms to find friends. The leaders of Africa have challenged the way the continent is being shown as one that is suffering from war and extremism, hunger and disaster which makes the countries take part in the West.
Some countries prefer to be mediators, as seen in Africa trying to mediate after the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out. Granting AU membership in the G20 is another step that shows that the continent has become a major player in the world as well.
What contribution will the AU give to the G20?
Given that it is a full member of the G20, the AU can represent the continent with the largest number of countries that trade without barriers.
In addition, the continent has a lot of minerals that the world needs to fight climate change, which Africa is the continent that has the least place to contribute to the deterioration of the climate but it is the most affected by the situation.
The continent of Africa has 60 percent of clean energy and more than 30 percent of important minerals that are used for clean energy.
The Democratic Republic of Congo alone has nearly half of the cobalt it needs, an important metal used in lithium batteries, according to a United Nations report released last month.
African leaders are tired of seeing some foreigners taking minerals from countries and taking them to other places for processing and making profits where they want to have more processing companies around them.
If we consider Africa's assets, it will be seen that the continent has a lot of wealth, said Kenyan President William Ruto at the first Africa Climate Change Conference.
The conference in Nairobi ended with a call to financial institutions to do justice to the 100 billion US dollars that rich countries have been pledging to developing countries every year to fight climate change and tax on polluting energy
Achieving a common position among the countries of the AU, from the powerful economies like Nigeria and Ethiopia to some of the poorest countries in the world, can be a challenge.
And the AU itself, some Africans have been advising it to do more to deal with coups and other conflicts.
The group's leadership, which is changed every year, also hampers balance, but Africa needs to "speak with one voice if it hopes to influence the decision-making process at the G20," said Ibrahim Assane. Mayaki, the former Prime Minister of Niger, and Daouda Sembene, the former executive director of the International Monetary Fund, in an article they wrote this year.
African leaders have shown that they want to take such a step.
During the corona epidemic, they gathered together and criticized how to hide