NEW DELHI: The G20 has agreed that the African Union (AU) will join the group of leading and emerging economic powers, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday at the start of this year’s G20 summit in New Delhi.

“In agreement with all of you, I would like to invite the chairperson of the African Union to take his seat as a permanent member of the G20,“ Modi said, reported German news agency (dpa).

Comoros President Azali Assoumani, the current chair of the AU, walked up to Modi and hugged him.

The move is expected to strengthen the role of Global South, which has been an ambition of Modi.

So far the only such bloc of countries in the G20 is the European Union, which is being represented in New Delhi by European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Other summit topics are climate change and a reform of the World Bank. Attendees include US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, but not Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping.-Bernama