The African Union's (AU) bid to become a permanent member of the G20, which brings together the world's largest economies, will be considered at the group's next summit in 2023, Senegal's head of state, Macky Sall, said yesterday.

"I thank the G20 members who supported the AU's application to join the group at the Bali summit in Indonesia," the President said on his official Twitter social network account.

"AU membership will be considered at the 2023 G20 Summit in India," Sall added. At the Bali summit, held between Tuesday and today, both Sall, the current AU president, and Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa - the only African country member of the G20 - called for the African Union's membership as a permanent member of the forum.

The Senegalese President has already called this year for a review of international governance that would give greater African representation in bodies such as the United Nations (UN) Security Council and the G20. "I would like to emphasize that in this renewal of multilateralism to which we committed in Bali, Africa remains an essential partner on the international scene," Sall quoted by Lusa in his speech at the G20 summit on Tuesday.

"It is the eighth largest economy in terms of GDP [Gross Domestic Product], has over 60% of arable land and an estimated population of 2.5 billion in 2050″, the Senegalese head of state recalled. For this reason, he added, Africa "can have the fair ambition to become a permanent member of the G20 Forum and I would like to invite my counterparts to do so."

The same view is shared by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that Paris "supports the full integration of the African Union into the G20," just as the European Union is also a member. Macron also announced the holding "next June in Paris" of an "international conference on a new financial pact with the South," with the aim of "creating the conditions for a real funding shock for the South."

In his speech, the AU president-in-office also focused on the fight against food insecurity and called for "resolving the paradox of an Africa with immense agricultural, forestry, and water potential often facing food shortages."

"We must modernize our agricultural systems, increase productivity in this sector through massive investments, promote our producers' access to agricultural equipment and fertilizers, and develop agricultural value chains to access foreign markets," he pointed out.

Macky Sall further noted that this is "a matter of mobilizing significant resources that far exceed the budgetary capabilities" of the states, "hence the need to accompany these efforts with concessional funding."

On the energy transition, the AU President reiterated - as he did at the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) climate summit in Egypt - Africa's commitment to the Paris Agreement (2015) to combat the climate crisis. Africa, he stressed, "remains open to the option of a low-carbon economy, but this requires technology transfer and investment in renewable energy."

"Giving up the exploitation of our natural resources while electricity remains a luxury, both for the population and for our businesses because of its high cost, means restricting our potential for industrialization, especially in the agri-food sector," Sall warned.

The G20 is a group that brings together the world's 19 largest economies and the European Union. Together, the nations represent about 80% of the entire global economy.