China is expected to agree to the final draft of the G20 Summit Joint Statement, while the US is more cautious.
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| At the 2023 Summit, the G20 may admit the AU. (Source: Reuters) |
On September 7, Bloomberg (USA) quoted informed sources as saying that the Group of 20 (G20) has agreed to grant permanent membership to the African Union (AU). According to the newspaper, the G20 is expected to announce this decision at the upcoming Summit.
If realized, the above scenario would put the AU, a bloc with 55 member states, on a par with the European Union (EU). The G20 currently includes 19 member states and the EU.
In addition, the G20 Summit held this weekend in New Delhi also invited nine non-member countries, including Bangladesh, Singapore, Spain and Nigeria, as well as international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In related news, answering a question about the possibility of reaching a Joint Statement at the event, the US National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby commented that finding consensus among G20 countries is like having "20 clocks ringing at the same time", and said that this is very unlikely but the US continues to hope.
Regarding the main goals of the G20 Summit, Mr. Kirby stated: “One of our main goals when joining the G20 is to help reshape and expand the scale of multilateral development banks such as the IMF and WB.
We know that these institutions are among the most effective tools for mobilizing high-quality, transparent investment in developing countries. That is why the United States has supported the major effort now underway to develop these institutions so that they can meet the challenges of the future.”
Previously, on September 6, Bloomberg quoted a senior French government official as saying that China had agreed with the draft communique of the G20 Summit.
According to the newspaper, only Russia and India are currently not supporting the G20 joint communique, including the statement on Ukraine. Bloomberg did not specify which clause on the conflict was included in the final communique of the Summit.
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