Time for the G20 to include the African Union

To have an equal voice in global policies, Africans need more seats at the tables of global power, such as the United Nations and the Group of 20. The G20, a collection of the world’s largest economies, consists of 19 countries and the European Union. But if it includes the EU as a regional representative, why couldn’t it turn into the G21 by adding the African Union — and thus give Africans more say in global economic policies? Hannah Ryder asks.

From the G20 to the United Nations, Africa’s agency and decision-making competence are hardly recognized – especially economically. If considered as a region, as Europe often is, Africa would be the world’s eighth-largest economy, and the African Union has goals of making it become the third-largest by 2063. That would mean growing to be the world’s Japan – and would put the continent ahead of Germany, France, India, and the United Kingdom in terms of economic might.

This has huge implications for the way the global economic decision-making order is structured. In such forums, African countries have often been seen as passive recipients of support or, at most, partners to consult with on specific questions. The idea that Africans might have interests beyond their own region, or a say in the global order, is rare. Hence, the international bodies that could benefit from African voices often exclude or marginalize them. 

For instance, in the International Monetary Fund, just two executive directors contribute to significant global financial decisions on behalf of 46 African members, while 22 other directors speak for the rest of the world. (Six of the other African countries, including Ghana, are represented by Middle Eastern regional directors, while Cape Verde is within a Latin America and the Caribbean grouping.) In the UN Security Council, no African country has a permanent seat. Instead African countries must change representation every two years for just three seats out of the total of 15 – disproportionate, given that African member states are nearly 28 percent of the United Nations’ overall membership. 

Even in the African Development Bank board, a simple majority decision can be achieved with just three of the nine African representatives, because of the voting power of the non-African representatives. The influential “Paris Club,” which has no African members but has made decisions on debt relief for numerous African countries, does not allow any borrowers in the room while decisions are being made. 

Why the G20?  

The G20 is a very special case, however, because while it also reflects this same marginalization of African countries – it includes just one African member, South Africa (now the continent’s third-largest economy, behind Nigeria and Egypt) – it has also granted regional membership to the European Union. 

The organization was created in 1999 shortly after the Asian financial crisis. Its 19 governments, plus the heads of the European Commission and European Council as representatives for the EU region, have since met regularly to discuss and coordinate their internal financial and economic policies, with a view to having a stabilizing, positive effect on the rest of the world. It has evolved to coordinate efforts in other policy areas. For instance, since 2009, the G20 has made agreements on climate issues – some of which were finally incorporated into UN negotiations as late as 2021. G20 trade ministers’ meetings are now held regularly. 

World leaders attend the G20 Summit in Rome, Italy on Oct 31, 2021.
World leaders attend the G20 Summit in Rome, Italy on Oct 31, 2021.

However, just like the work of the UN Security Council, where Africa is primarily the subject of its meetings, outcome documents, and resolutions, the G20 has become increasingly active when it comes to Africa. When China was president in 2016, it initiated work on supporting industrialization in African countries, while the German presidency in 2017 initiated the G20 Compact With Africa to promote private investment in the continent. Most recently, in 2021, the Italian presidency hosted the first Africa Advisory Group. 

The problem is that, just as in the UN Security Council, all these G20 initiatives consign Africa to a passive, consultative, or at best diminutive role. Even the new “advisory group,” which has 12 non-G20 African members, is co-chaired by a non-African and includes institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (which has no African members), thus diluting the African voice. 

Regional representation  

This marginalization in decision-making matters. Despite its significance as the eighth-largest economy, the African continent has little leverage in the current world order. The African Union’s 55 members, representing more than 1.3 billion people, together account for less than 4 percent of global trade, foreign direct investment, global emissions, and even public debt. When it comes to public goods, Africa is even further marginalized – 3 percent of global vaccines supplied so far and 2 percent of renewable-energy production globally. These outcomes are not just due to Africa’s development levels; they are also due to international rules – discussed and agreed in rooms, such as those of G20 hosts, that Africans are hardly represented in, if at all. 

That means that while countries such as Italy, Canada, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia all have smaller economies than the African region, through their G20 memberships they are able to have direct effects on global challenges that African nations – save for South Africa – cannot. Latin America and Europe each have at least three countries represented in the G20, and Europe also has its own regional representative. 

Regional representation is highly pertinent for Africa. Paralleling the European Union, the African continent could easily be represented in the G20 by the elected African Union Commission chair – currently Moussa Faki Mahamat of Chad – and by the AU’s annually rotating chair, always an African head of state, this year President Macky Sall of Senegal. The AU representatives could receive their mandate through the annual meetings of African heads of state in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

Heads of states and delegates stand for the African Union anthem during the 35th ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union at the African Union Commission (AUC) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 5, 2022.
Heads of states and delegates stand for the African Union anthem during the 35th ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union at the African Union Commission (AUC) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 5, 2022.

While the AU in economic terms is significantly smaller than the EU, and integration has arguably proceeded more slowly, member states’ goals in the annual meetings are typically formulated in regional terms under the Agenda 2063 banner, the continent’s overarching development plan. Under this plan the continent has developed a major flagship project, the African Continental Free Trade Area – the world’s largest free-trade area by membership – which went into effect January 2021 and is expected to significantly boost economic growth and jobs across the continent. 

The Agenda 2063 plans also envision a monetary union like the EU, as well as various infrastructural, policy, and cultural integration efforts. With the continent’s population, estimated to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, Agenda 2063 envisions Africa becoming the world’s hub for manufactured goods in the same way that China is now, albeit with a greener hue. The continent has decision-making capacity – and its leaders know best how to harness this capacity, not only for the continent but also for the rest of the world. 

Africa’s environmental potential 

African leaders have a great deal to offer global decision-making forums, beyond the continent’s pure economic potential or existing sources of economic growth, by drawing on African business and citizens’ ways of working and experiences. 

Take the environment. Africa is more than just large carbon sinks in the form of forests or vulnerability to climate change because of its current dependence on agriculture. It has much to offer globally. Estimates by the International Renewable Energy Agency suggest that Africa could supply 40 percent of the world’s solar potential and more than 10 percent of its wind-power capacity by 2050. 

Governance models used in African countries also have lessons – for instance, Rwanda’s truth and reconciliation process is seen as a leading model for justice globally. And African leaders and scientists have been at the forefront of COVID-19 management, especially in the developing world. 

For too long, the multilateral agenda has been set by others on behalf of Africa, despite the continent’s current global importance and its planned future. The recognition of Africa’s decision-making capacity and agency – for example, by it becoming the 21st member of the G20 – could make a huge difference. 

For Africa to realize African goals, African leaders must demand that their agency is embedded into the world’s current international-relations structures. Otherwise, African countries may remain marginalized, never escaping the poverty traps that many outside the continent imagine are inevitable, and never realizing the AU’s Agenda 2063 vision. Equally, however, multilateralism will not improve without creating a stronger role and voice for African countries.