U.S. President Joe Biden's administration will announce the United States' support for enlarging the Group of 20 major economies to include the African Union, according to a senior administration official.
The 54-nation A.U., a continental union headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is a needed voice and deserves a permament seat in the G-20 intergovernmental forum that represents 80% of the world's GDP, according to Judd Devermont, the White House National Security Council's senior director for African affairs.
“It’s past time Africa has permanent seats at the table in international organizations and initiatives,” Devermont said. “We need more African voices in international conversations that concern the global economy, democracy and governance, climate change, health, and security.”
South Africa is the only African nation that's now a member of the G-20. There are 18 other member nations – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the E.U., France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey and the United States – plus the European Union.
Earlier in the week, Devermont, a former senior CIA official and national intelligence officer for Africa, told a U.S. State Department digital press briefing that the United States has invited 49 governments plus the A.U. to its U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington next week.
"We have strived to have the most inclusive summit possible," Devermont told the briefing. "We’ve invited Africans from all walks of life and Americans to join us to talk about business, democracy and governance, the state of civil society, opportunities for investment."
The Biden administration also supports adding permanent members from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean to the 15-nation U.N. Security Council, said the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee. The council now has five veto-wielding permanent seats for China, France, Russia, the U.S., and the U.K., resulting in frequent gridlock.
"How do we work together to update the international architecture to better reflect current realities and to help us all meet the challenges of this era?" asked Phee, adding the summit next week will provide an opportunity to talk about this idea ahead of next year's annual U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders.
At last month's G-20 summit hosted by Indonesia, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa pushed for A.U. membership as an important step in confronting global climate change.
“We call for continued G-20 support for the African Renewable Energy Initiative as a means of bringing clean power to the continent on African terms,” Ramaphosa said. “This can be best achieved with the African Union joining the G-20 as a permanent member.”
China's President Xi Jinping told G-20 summit that his nation supports enlarging the G-20 to include the A.U.
Devermont said the announcement builds on the administration’s strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa and its advocacy for adding permanent members from Africa to the U.N. Security Council.
