Leaders from the most powerful nations in the world are flocking to New Delhi for the G20 Heads of State and Government Summit to be held on September 9-10.
The culmination of India’s year-long presidency of the G20, the summit will be concluded with the adoption of a G20 Leaders’ Declaration, which will state the participating leaders’ commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings (more on that later).
Here is everything you need to know about the G20 – from why the group came into existence and what exactly it does, to the specifics of the Summit that New Delhi is set to host.
The G20, or the Group of Twenty, comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States) and the European Union.
These members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population. As a forum for international economic cooperation, it plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.
To promote financial regulations that reduce risks and prevent future financial crises; and
To create a new international financial architecture.
The Soviet Union fell in 1991, bringing an end to the Cold War. At the same time, vibrant economies were emerging in the Global South, in countries such as Brazil, China and India. It was in this context that a need for reform emerged in global governance and international institutions. Simply put, existing fora such as the G7, or international organisations such as the World Bank, were incapable of handling crises in the emergent global order.
In 1997, the Asian financial crisis ripped through some of the fastest-growing economies in East Asia. It soon spread to Latin America. It was in the context of this crisis that the G22, G20’s earliest iteration, was set up in 1998. While initially conceived as a one-time crisis-response meeting, in early 1999, two more meetings were convened including 33 members (G33) to discuss reforms of the global economy and the international financial system.
It was in late 1999 that the G20, with its current composition, was finally founded as an informal forum for Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of its members to meet annually.
Between 1999 and 2008, the G20 operated mostly outside the public eye. While annual meetings were held, they were not the big deal they are today. The global financial crisis of 2008 would, however, catapult G20 to its present status. As the world reeled from the greatest economic crisis to hit since the Great Depression (1929-39), France, which held the EU presidency at the time, argued for an emergency summit meeting to address the crisis.
But whom to invite? The G8 (comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US) was not sufficiently influential on its own to stabilise a crisis on this scale. Typically, diplomats would deliberate for months to decide which countries to call, but amid the ongoing crisis, there was simply no time. The G20 was the obvious answer.
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