The African Union should join the G20 leaders group

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the African Union (AU) to be made a permanent member of the G20, a group of 20 countries with leading economies which come together to discuss policy on health, trade and other issues.

Speaking during the Working Session on Food and Energy Security at the G20 Leaders’ Summit, held in Bali, Indonesia, Ramaphosa said the addition of the AU will give a more unified approach to solving challenges currently plaguing the world.

“We call for continued G20 support for the African Renewable Energy Initiative as a means of bringing clean power to the continent on African terms,“ he said. “In this regard, this can be best achieved with the African Union joining the G20 as a permanent member. It is only through a collective and united response that we can resolve the challenges of food and energy insecurity across our world.”

President Ramaphosa also bemoaned slow progress on negotiations between developing and developed nations at the recently held COP27 conference in Egypt. “We are…concerned at the lack of progress on key issues in the multilateral negotiations at COP27, especially with respect to loss and damage, finance, technology, capacity building, adaptation and the just transition,“ he said.

Turning to food insecurity, President Ramaphosa said several factors are contributing to increasing global food insecurity with low and middle income states bearing the brunt of it, including „Covid-19 pandemic … climate change … [and] the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.“ Therefore, the South African president said that “low and middle income economies are most affected by the resultant food shortages and therefore need substantial financial support to ensure food security and tackle the effects of climate change.”