As the chairman, India is all set to organize the 18th summit of the world’s most powerful economic group G20. This summit of G20 is to be held in New Delhi on 9 and 10 September. This will be the time when heads of states or executive heads of all the developed countries of the world including America, Canada, Japan, China, France, Germany, Russia will be together on Indian soil.
This will be a historic opportunity for India. Since November 2008, the annual summit of the G20 group has started. Its first summit was held in America on 14-15 November 2008. After 15 years, India will host the G20 summit for the first time. The biggest meeting of the G20 group is the annual summit itself. In the 17th summit held in Bali, Indonesia, on November 16, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was handed over the chairmanship of G20. After the handing over of the chairmanship, India’s year-long G20 chairmanship begins on December 1, 2022. India is the chairman of G20 till 30 November this year.
African Union gets membership of G20
After becoming the chairman of this group, India has worked hard for the last 8 months to unite all the developed countries around the world on global affairs and to increase mutual cooperation in dealing with global challenges. India wants the African Union to become a permanent member of the G20 like the European Union. If this happens then it will be the biggest achievement of India as G20 President.
Positive attitude on PM Modi’s proposal
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed that the African Union be made a member of this group. After the last few days’ opinion consultation, encouraging positive attitude is being seen from the member countries on this proposal of PM Modi. India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant himself has given information about the stand of the member countries on this proposal of Prime Minister Modi. He says that there has been an unprecedented response to the proposal.
African Union’s chances of getting membership increased
The way the member countries are showing a positive attitude towards this proposal of India, the possibility of the African Union getting permanent membership in the G20 under Indian chairmanship has increased. If this happens, it will prove to be a significant step for India for diplomatic reasons.
India has been saying for a long time that whether it is economic policy at the global level or the issue related to the food chain..or the issue related to carbon emission and clean energy..the voice of the economically weak and less developed countries should also be heard in every matter. Ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, India has put this side even more strongly in all international forums.
India has emerged as the voice of Global South
This is the reason why India had given a clear message to the whole world after taking over the presidency of the G20 group last year. At that time PM Modi had said that India will work to promote the universal feeling of unity in the world. Giving the mantra of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, he had made it clear that the voice and interests of the countries of the Global South can no longer be ignored on global issues.
Giving priority to the voice of the Global South and the interests of poor-underdeveloped countries is not only the responsibility of the rich countries of the world, but it is also necessary from the point of view of global peace, stability and prosperity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been in favor of this. This is also reflected in PM Modi’s proposal related to the permanent membership of the African Union in the G20.
Proposal in view of the importance of G20
Actually G20 is the most powerful economic group in the world. It is a group of 19 major economies of the European Union and the world. This group works to shape and strengthen global thinking on international economic issues. The G20 accounts for about 85% of global GDP. The contribution of this group to the global trade is more than 75 percent. It is also very important from the point of view of human resources. 67% of the total population of the world lives in the member countries of this group. We can say that all these countries decide the direction and condition of the global economy. For the last few years, the G20 group has become more important than the G7 group of the world’s most developed 7 countries.
The participation of the continent of Africa is negligible
If we think from the point of view of the continent in such an important group, then the participation of the African continent in this is negligible. South Africa is the only permanent member from the continent of Africa. Talking about the rest of the continents, Canada, Mexico and the United States are the three countries in the G20 from North America. South America Argentina and Brazil are two countries. Three countries from East Asia include China, Japan and South Korea. India from South Asia and Indonesia from South-East Asia are included. At the same time, Saudi Arabia is included from Middle-East Asia. Apart from Russia and Turkey from Eurasia, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom are its members from Europe. Australia is a member of the G20 from Oceania. Apart from these, being a member of the European Union, the participation of most of the countries of Europe is also ensured in this group.
Africa is the second largest continent in terms of population and area.
If we think from the point of view of participation, then the role of African countries becomes negligible in this. While Africa is the second largest continent after Asia in terms of population and area. 20 percent of the Earth’s land area is within its scope and about 18 percent of the world’s population also lives here. The world’s youngest population is in this continent.
The poorest continent in terms of per capita income
Africa is rich in natural resources, yet it is the poorest continent in terms of per capita income. There are a total of 54 recognized countries in Africa, from this it can be estimated that how big and important Africa is for the whole world. The group of these countries is called the African Union. Although it has 55 member countries. The Organization of African Unity (OAU), formed in 1963, becomes the African Union in 2002.
Increased participation of less developed countries
Given the population, area and number of countries of the African Union, the representation of African countries in the G20 is secondary. In view of this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants the African Union to get permanent membership of the G20 under the chairmanship of India. For this purpose, PM Modi had sent a letter to the member countries in June itself. In this, it was proposed to give full membership of G20 to African Union in the upcoming summit to be held in India in September.
Wide support to PM Modi’s proposal
The response from the member countries to this proposal was as expected by India. For this reason, when the third meeting of the G20 Sherpas was held in Hampi, Karnataka from July 13 to 16, the proposal to make the African Union a permanent member was formally included in the draft leaders’ declaration. This shows that there is widespread support in the group for PM Modi’s proposal.
Indian initiative will send message to the world
If this happens, then this message will go to the whole world that the goal of G20 presidency is for India to benefit all the poor countries of Global South including African countries. In the ‘Voice of Global South’ held in January this year, India had made it clear in front of 125 countries that in the coming times, it would make more efforts to include the voices of the countries of the Global South in the G20 group. India’s proposal to include the African Union is a part of that commitment. The kind of response that is coming, it seems that India, as the president, has been successful in convincing the G20 member countries on this issue. This is the reason that there is every possibility that the African Union will be included in the G20 during India’s presidency on the basis of PM Modi’s proposal.
Full consent will have to be made before September
However, to become a permanent member of the G20, the consent of every existing permanent member is required and if any one member raises objections, then the way for the African Union will be closed for the time being. India as the President has to face this challenge in the next one and a half months. It is also necessary that every member country in the summit should unanimously support this proposal of India.
‘India doesn’t think only of itself’
India has always believed that the world’s top powers should not think only of themselves. Economically prosperous countries should take care of the interests of small countries equally. The way India is trying to make African Union a member of G20, all the big powers of the world are now accepting that India has the ability to lead the world on major issues of global concern.
A country that understands the sorrows and pains of the Global South
If this happens, this message will also go that India not only maintains strong relations with developed countries, it also understands the interests of developing and poor countries very well. Understanding the sorrow and pain of all its friends of the Global South, India is always ahead to help them. India has always believed that the voices of small, poor and underdeveloped countries are often ignored.
Very important initiative from strategic point of view
If the African Union soon becomes a permanent member of the G20 due to Indian efforts, then it is also important in terms of India’s strategic and business interests in Africa. China is constantly trying to increase investment in African countries. Africa has abundant natural resources, apart from this the young population is also a great strength. Africa is also a big market.
From a geographical point of view, along with the Indo-Pacific region located in Africa, there is also a kind of geopolitical advantage in the Atlantic Ocean. China is constantly trying to change the balance of power in its favor by adopting an expansionist and aggressive stance in the Indo-Pacific region. The situation of African countries coming towards the Indian Ocean is very critical in terms of strategic advantage. China is increasing investment in these countries to fulfill its nefarious plans. China’s increasing investment in small countries is linked to its nefarious plans to increase its military dominance. We have seen this in many countries of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The confidence of African countries will be stronger
Now if the African Union gets the membership of G20 under the chairmanship of India, then the trust of African countries on India will be even stronger. This will help in increasing bilateral trade. Through this, India’s relationship with African countries can reach that height, with the help of which it can help India to find a counter to China’s dangerous intentions.
Approval of India’s proposal will also send a message that India is a country that not only becomes a voice for the poor countries, but also has the ability to convince the powerful countries of the world economically and militarily for their interests. There is no difference between India’s words and actions regarding the Global South. India is not going to take only selected countries. The whole of humanity is important to him.
The hopes of poor countries will get wings
Joining African Union in G20 will not only increase the trust of African countries on India, along with this India’s importance and trust will increase even more for Latin American countries, Caribbean countries, poor countries of Asia as well as many small island countries. With the success of this initiative of India, the hopes of more than a hundred countries of the world will start getting wings. They will believe that even if their economic condition is weak, but there is a reliable and strong country like India to put their words strongly on international forums.
The success of India’s initiative to become a member of the African Union will also ensure that the opinion and interests of poor and least developed countries will have equal importance in deciding the priorities of the G20 in future.
[नोट- उपरोक्त दिए गए विचार लेखक के व्यक्तिगत विचार हैं. ये जरूरी नहीं कि एबीपी न्यूज़ ग्रुप इससे सहमत हो. इस लेख से जुड़े सभी दावे या आपत्ति के लिए सिर्फ लेखक ही जिम्मेदार है.]
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