G20 grants permanent membership to African Union

Highlights

• The G20 grouping of nations has agreed to grant permanent membership to the African Union, Bloomberg News said on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
• The move would give the African Union, a continental body of 55 member states, the same status as the EU, from its current designation of “invited international organization”.
• Countries like India, Germany, Brazil, and Canada have also expressed their support for African Union membership to the G20.

Source: Bloomberg

Our Takeaway

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies, which represent around 85% of global GDP, over 75% of global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population. The bloc’s AU invitation was imminent given that the union, as an economic bloc, ranks as the 8th largest in the world since the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect in January 2021 in addition, African countries have vital resources to address energy challenges across the world.