AA/ Dakar / Alioune Ndiaye
The 17th edition of the G20 summit held in Bali (Indonesia) on November 15 and 16 ended with a note of hope for Africa. This structure, which brings together the 19 most efficient economies in the world and the European Union, has decided to examine, during the 2023 session, in India, the membership of the African Union (AU) as a permanent member.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, who took part in the Bali summit as a guest – as is the case with each edition for the AU President-in-Office – made the announcement the day after the meeting of the G20.
“Africa is the 8th economic power by its GDP, has more than 60% of arable land with a population estimated at nearly 2.5 billion by 2050,” Sall argued during his plea at the G20 forum.
Continent of extremes with both significant natural potential and a glaring delay in industrialization and great security and food vulnerabilities, its entry into the circle of the G20 bodes well for prospects, believe experts contacted by Anadolu.
“Africa will now be at the negotiating table and will thus be able to participate upstream in the development of the Group’s agenda. It will have the possibility of exerting a greater influence on the content of this agenda”, released Demba Moussa Dembélé, president of the “African research and cooperation for the support of endogenous development” (Arcade).
“This entry could open the door to better representation of the countries of the South in world bodies; which would thus allow them to have a greater influence in the orientation of international policies”, continued Dembelé, assuring that this accession is an opportunity for Africa to be its own spokesperson to expose and defend its concerns. .
“Africa will be in a better position to try to influence the policies of certain members of the G20 towards it,” he posed as an illustration.
Even if this probable entry proves, on its own, insufficient to allow Africa to have “immediately a very significant weight” in world governance, it is a further step in this direction, Gilles opined. Yabi, founder of West African Citizen Think Tank (Wathi), noting that joining is a significant step.
“To influence global governance, you have to be present in the forums, places and moments of discussion of this global governance and of the most important questions on the economic level, on the strategic level, on the geopolitical level”, said he said explained.
“This goes in the direction of an increasingly significant involvement of the African continent in the most important and influential bodies at the level of global governance”, noted Yabi, whose organization is a platform for production and dissemination of knowledge and proposals on critical issues facing the continent.
Obviously there will be no question for the AU to just be satisfied with this probable future membership. If necessary, harmonizing its positions internally and developing strategies to defend its interests should be the watchwords.
“The admission of Africa to the G20 could help to raise awareness of the realities of the continent by the other members of the G20. Thus, Africa could have a more attentive ear to its problems and challenges”, defined Dembélé, foreseeing a better consideration of inequalities in the world and the challenges facing the planet.
“You also have to be prepared to have specific points to defend when you take part in this type of discussion. It is not simply a question of being at the table but you have to come there with files that are prepared with also a strategy to defend your positions”, underlined the founder of Wathi.
He thus assured that the AU must thus continue to work internally on its capacities to define the most strategic interests of the continent in order to better defend them.
“It must be recognized that the AU is making progress, it is trying to unify the positions of the 54 African countries on important issues and I think that by entering the G20 this will further push the AU to seek these consensuses on the the most strategic questions”, he insisted.
“That’s what’s most important. This will be true for the G20 but also for all the other international bodies where Africa is trying to defend its positions and demand a rebalancing in global governance,” Yabi also noted.
Dembélé sees even further through this integration of the AU which would allow the African continent to be the voice of all the poor countries of the world. “Africa could be a better advocate for the concerns of the Global South, especially the so-called poorest countries,” he insisted.
The economist has, in the dynamics, projected himself further in what would be the completion of the process of recognition of Africa on the international sphere, namely a status of permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
“The day when Africa wins this fundamental claim, it would be a major geopolitical development that will give the African continent a decisive weight on the international chessboard and make it play a leading role in world affairs”, he released, conceding however that this “is not for tomorrow”.
The process of overhauling global governance that Africa and other parts of the world are vociferously calling for is taking its course…slowly but surely. A place for the AU within the G20: a milestone worth its weight in gold.
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