African Union President Azali Assoumani arrives in Delhi for G20 Summit

New Delhi [India]: President of the Union of Comoros and Chairperson of the African Union (AU), Azali Assoumani on Friday arrived here in the national capital to attend the G20 summit being hosted by India this year.

Assoumani was received by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways, Raosaheb Danve at the New Delhi airport.

In June 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a bold step in taking Africa’s voice on the international stage and shaping the future of the shared world, adding that he has written to G20 counterparts to provide the African Union with full membership at this G20 Summit.

PM Modi has proposed that the African Union, a bloc of 55 countries from the African continent that was launched in 2002, be given full membership on their request.

Prime Minister Modi firmly advocates and supports the Africa cause and has led from the front in this matter. India believes this will be the right step towards a just, fair, more inclusive and representative global architecture and governance.

Prime Minister Modi is also a strong believer in holding a greater voice of the Global South countries on international platforms, particularly of African countries. As part of India’s G20 Presidency, he has particularly focused on incorporating priorities of the African countries in the G20 agenda.

More recently, in an editorial that has been published across newspapers, PM Modi wrote “The voice of Global South Summit, which witnessed participation from 125 countries, was one of the foremost initiatives under our Presidency. It was an important exercise to gather inputs and ideas from the Global South. Further, our Presidency has not only seen the largest-ever participation from African countries but has also pushed for the inclusion of the African Union as a permanent member of the G20.”

On Thursday, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said that he would be very happy to see the inclusion of the African Union as a member in the G20.

India is hosting the G20 Leader’s Summit in the national capital at the newly inaugurated Bharat Mandapam on September 9-10.

The summit is being attended by more than 30 heads of state and top officials from the European Union and invited guest countries and 14 heads of international organisations.