he Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, on September 18 named the Moroccan diplomat Fathallah Sijilmassi Special Envoy for G20 and Global Affairs. The release issued the same day in Addis Ababa marks out the office: the new envoy will support the Chairperson in advancing the Union’s strategic engagement with the G20, under the authority of the AU G20 Sherpa and in accordance with the governance the organization has given itself for that format, and will carry the same work into other multilateral platforms. First Director General of the African Union Commission, Fathallah Sijilmassi comes to the post with a record in which Mahmoud Ali Youssouf says he places his confidence, for the experience, diplomatic expertise and knowledge of global affairs he reads in it.
The mandate, as the release describes it, is broad: to consult Member States and international partners, to work in close coordination with the Commission’s departments and structures, and to strengthen Africa’s representation in discussions on global governance, the international financial architecture, sustainable development, trade, climate action and technology. These are grounds on which the continent rarely arrives in a position to draft the text. The African Union now sits at the G20, and it is that place, long demanded, which the appointment comes to arm. The Kingdom, which had already given the Commission its first Director General in the person of the same man, places a diplomat at the hinge between the Union and the great economic forums. It will take a few summits to measure what a special envoy weighs against a financial order negotiated elsewhere; but the seat will be held.
Photo: Andrew Moore, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Union africaine - The Chairperson of the AU Commission Appoints Special Envoy for G20 and Global Affairs
Union africaine - Welcoming Remarks by H.E. Amb. Fathallah Sijilmassi Director General of the AUC
