Why the G-20 in Japan may be memorable

ENERGY and environment ministers met at the weekend to help finalise preparations for next week's G-20 leadership summit in Osaka, Japan. The event, which may yet see US-China trade tensions ease or escalate, could become the most important G-20 since the 2009 meeting in London during the storm of the international financial crisis.

Presidents and prime ministers will be in attendance from the United States, China, Germany, India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Russia, Brazil, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Argentina, Mexico, and the European Union. Collectively, these powers account for some 90 per cent of global GDP, 80 per cent of world trade, and around 66 per cent of global population.

Recent summits, especially in Hamburg in 2017, have been perhaps most memorable for the divisions within the G-20 powers - especially vis-a-vis the US and key EU countries, over issues such as international trade, migration and climate change.