African Union to become permanent member of G20 forum

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off G20 talks by announcing that the African Union would join the group of the world's top economies.

Transcript

00:00 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off day one of the G20 summit in New Delhi

00:07 by announcing that the African Union will be the latest member to join the group, adding

00:12 momentum to his drive to give a greater voice to the global south.

00:16 The announcement comes as growing global rifts and the absence of key players threaten to

00:21 make reaching consensus on the thorniest issues elusive.

00:25 This year, neither Russia's Vladimir Putin nor China's Xi Jinping decided to attend

00:30 in person, sending representatives in their names.

00:34 There was widespread support, however, for adding the AU to the G20, making it the second

00:40 regional bloc to become a permanent member after the European Union.

00:45 The US and the UK tried to encourage India to take an active diplomatic approach towards

00:50 Russia, while the EU stressed global food security issues directly connected to the

00:55 war in Ukraine.

00:56 (pages turning)