German Chancellor Olaf Scholz threw his weight behind calls for the African Union to become a permanent member of the Group of 20 to give it more say in efforts to tackle global issues like climate change.
(Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz threw his weight behind calls for the African Union to become a permanent member of the Group of 20 to give it more say in efforts to tackle global issues like climate change.
“We want to support that the African Union gets a seat in the G-20 so it can take part and help make decisions,” Scholz said Thursday at a news conference at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
“Respect for the continent and its many nations and growing population makes this necessary,” Scholz added. The German leader was speaking after talks with Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the African Union Commission.
Scholz said Africa must play a greater role in international politics as a way to reflect its growing importance in an increasingly fractured and multipolar world order.
“It is a continent with a very young population, so that today we can assume that soon two and a half billion people will live on the African continent,” the chancellor said.
“It is only right and long overdue that the African Union gets a seat at the G-20,” Scholz said, adding other leaders backed the idea as well, so he’s convinced that the African Union will soon get its seat.
South Africa is currently the only African country in the G-20, a grouping of mostly rich nations which represents about 85% of global gross domestic product and about two-thirds of the world’s population.
The AU has been pressing to join as a permanent member rather than as a so-called “invited international organization,” a category which also includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United Nations.
That would give it the same status as the European Union and is part of a drive to provide African countries with a stronger voice when international organizations decide on measures that affect them, including efforts to address global warming. G-20 nations are responsible for 80% of global emissions, while Africa accounts for less than 4%.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in January reiterated the Biden administration’s support for making the African Union a permanent member of the G-20 as the US and its allies try to counter attempts by China and Russia to increase their influence on the African continent.
The AU is a grouping of 55 states with a combined GDP of more than $2 trillion, which would place it within the world’s top 10 economies.
As part of his second Africa trip as chancellor Scholz heads next to Kenya, where he’ll hold talks Friday in Nairobi with President William Ruto. On Saturday, he’ll visit the Olkaria geothermal facility in Hell’s Gate National Park to the northwest of the capital.
–With assistance from David Malingha and Paul Richardson.
(Updates with Scholz comments from fourth paragraph.)
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