Delhi G20 – some key issues may be off-agenda

AS SUMMIT meetings go, the Group of 20 (G20) has a mixed record. The first few were certainly instrumental in helping to ride out the 2008 global financial storm. Subsequent ones have had other lofty targets, but have not always resulted in decisive action. The 18th iteration of the summit, to be held this weekend (Sep 9 to Sep 10) in New Delhi, may skip over some significant issues.

The standard format is that at the end of the meeting, there would be a leaders’ declaration on their agreement on current global economic issues. But disagreements in the past have led to statements that omit mentioning the key challenges of the day. For instance, the need to end coal-powered electricity generation to curb greenhouse gas emissions, or the economic fallout from the Ukraine war. Such setbacks are perhaps inevitable, given that the final communique has to be the product of a consensus; everyone present must agree to everything in the communique.

The group was formed following the 2008 crisis that rattled the confidence of the West to manage the global economy on its own. Washington then invited 20 nations, representing about 75 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product, to begin the era of “summits on financial markets and the world economy”, also known as the G20. By the time of the second meeting in London the following year, the G20 together had pumped in the equivalent of US$5 trillion in stimulus into the world economy. It was an unprecedented but timely jolt to global demand that had fallen off a cliff. It was then agreed that G20 meetings would become the premier forum for international economic cooperation.