Cancún, 29 March 2022 (TDI): The Group of Twenty commonly known as G20 was formed in 1999 to broaden and strengthen the formation of beneficial policies to resolve economic and financial disputes and apprehensions.
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and the President of the World Bank together with the Chair of the International Monetary Fund Committee and the Development Committee participated in the meeting of the Ministers of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank on an ex officio basis to establish the group.
Members
Group 20 is a membership of 19 countries which includes, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, China, Germany, Britain, India, and Saudi Arabia. In addition, the group includes South Africa, Italy, France, Russia, and European Union.
Inception
G20 was born out of a difficult situation, rather a crisis, since G7 was unable to handle the world economy. G20’s inception acted as a catalyst mobilizing massive liquidity to bring a new fresh breeze of hope into the Bretton Woods Institutions.
The Bretton Woods Institutions are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These institutions were set up at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, the USA in July 1944.
The aim was to help rehabilitate & rebuild the wrecked and devastated economies of post-war and stop the great recession from becoming another great depression with the expansion of the group agenda.
Through this, heterogeneous members strove to achieve consensus even on the bread and butter macroeconomic and financial matters.
G20, G8 & G7
G8 and G20 are the coalition of nations addressing significant international issues. The predecessor of both was a coalition of G7 which grouped together in 1975 to oppose the 1973 oil embargo. G7 was renamed G8 in 1997.
The 1973 oil embargo was put into place by the Arabs protesting against the United States and the United Kingdom during Yom Kippur-the holiest day in the Jewish calendar-War also known as the Ramadhan War.
The war failed due to the weaponry and military help provided by the United States and the United Kingdom. G20 is the central forum for international cooperation on financial and economic issues.
G20: The central forum for international cooperation
G20 countries account for more than four-fifths of gross world product and three-quarters of global trade and are home to two-thirds of the world population. G20 provides strategic economic communication, reduces the risk, and prevents future financial crises.
G20 was incepted as a bloc of important industrialized and developing economies. Its annual summit was debuted in 2008 and evolved into a comprehensive forum highlighting economic and bilateral meetings that led to major agreements.
G20 formation cannot be separated from Group7. The inability of Group7 to perform and deliver its duties and its relevance in conducting the left-proposed agendas left it questionable.
The United States President, Donald Trump challenged and clashed with many of its agendas over trade, migration policies, contrary to the fact that G20 kept supporting the United States against terrorism, empowering women, and gender equality.
President Biden though extended his views by promising a return to multilateral cooperation and attended the first G20 summit in October 2021 in Rome, discussions focused mainly on climate change and Covid-19.
Group7
G7 is an informal grouping of industrialized advanced democracies formed in 1975 that meets annually to look into their trans-national issues. United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom meet annually to address global issues.
However, as a matter of fact, the G7 has not been able to handle the global issues rather homogeneous participation of its members emerged as a lack of follow-through.
Russia was part of this forum from 1998 through 2014 when the bloc emerged as G8 but over the annexation of Crimea, Russia was ousted from this group.
Group7 was challenged by Russia and China when in 2021 a historic agreement was signed by G7 to overhaul corporate taxation and Group7 launched a major strategy to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Nevertheless, a global concern emerged to set down and deal as equals not donors, and involve the world at large to be the beneficiary in the international decision making.
2022 G20 Summit
The 2022 G20 Summit is taking place in Bali, Indonesia. Indonesia Presidency took over from December 2021 up to the Summit in the fourth quarter of 2022.
