India's PM Calls for African Union to Join G20

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for the African Union to join the Group of 20 leading economies (G20) on Sunday.

The G20 is made up of 19 countries plus the European Union, which together account for about 85% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world's population.

The group includes geopolitical rivals such as the United States, Russia and China, but also countries of a smaller global scale. South Africa is the only member of the African continent.

"We have a vision of inclusiveness and with that vision, we have invited the African Union to become permanent members of the G20," Modi said at the a business forum in New Delhi on Sunday.

Modi is not the first G20 leader to support membership in the African Union.

And earlier this year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the bloc had his full support for a permanent seat in the G20.

India currently holds the presidency of the G20, a position that rotates every year among the 19 member states.

In this role, she has struggled to bridge differences over Russia's invasion of Ukraine but instead pushed for consensus on issues that disproportionately affect developing countries, also known as the global south.