The G20 (or G-20 or Group of Twenty) is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies founded in 1999. The G20 aims to discuss policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability. It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization.The G20 heads of government or heads of state have periodically conferred at summits since their initial meeting in 2008, and the group also hosts separate meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors.
Membership of the G20 consists of 19 individual countries plus the European Union (EU). The EU is represented by the European Commission and by the European Central Bank. Collectively, the G20 economies account for around 85% of the gross world product (GWP), 80% of world trade (or, if excluding EU intratrade, 75%), and two-thirds of the world population.
With the G20 growing in stature after its inaugural leaders’ summit in 2008, its leaders announced on 25 September 2009 that the group would replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations. Since its inception, the G20’s membership policies have been criticized by numerous intellectuals, and its summits have been a focus for major protests by left-wing groups and anarchists.
The heads of the G20 nations met semiannually at G20 summits between 2009 and 2010. Since the November 2011 Cannes summit, all G20 summits have been held annually.
History
The G20 is the latest in a series of post-World War II initiatives aimed at international coordination of economic policy, which include institutions such as the “Bretton Woods twins”, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and what is now the World Trade Organization.
The G20 was foreshadowed at the Cologne Summit of the G7 in June 1999, and formally established at the G7 Finance Ministers’ meeting on 26 September 1999 with an inaugural meeting on 15-16 December 1999 in Berlin. Canadian finance minister Paul Martin was chosen as the first chairman and German finance minister Hans Eichel hosted the inaugural meeting.
The Brookings Institution claims the group was founded primarily at the initiative of Eichel, the concurrent chair of the G7. Canadian sources identify the G20 as a joint creation of Germany and the United States. The G20 membership was decided by Eichel’s deputy Caio Koch-Weser and then US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers’ deputy Timothy Geithner.
“Geithner and Koch-Weser went down the list of countries saying, Canada in, Portugal out, South Africa in, Nigeria and Egypt out, and so on; they sent their list to the other G7 finance ministries; and the invitations to the first meeting went out.”
Early topics
The G20’s primary focus has been governance of the global economy, and summit themes have varied from year to year. The theme of the 2006 G20 ministerial meeting was “Building and Sustaining Prosperity”. The issues discussed included domestic reforms to achieve “sustained growth”, global energy and resource commodity markets, reform of the World Bank and IMF, and the impact of demographic changes due to an aging world population.
In 2007, South Africa hosted the secretariat with Trevor A. Manuel, South African Minister of Finance as chairperson of the G20. In 2008, Guido Mantega, Brazil’s Minister of Finance, was the G20 chairperson and proposed dialogue on competition in financial markets, clean energy, economic development and fiscal elements of growth and development.
On 11 October 2008 after a meeting of G7 finance ministers US President George W. Bush stated that the next meeting of the G20 would be important in finding solutions to the burgeoning economic crisis of 2008.
WHICH COUNTRIES ARE G20 MEMBERS?
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, The European Union, represented by the European Council.
When and where is the 2017 G20 summit being held?
This year’s main G20 forum is being held from 7-8 July in Hamburg, Germany. As well as permanent members of the committee, the leaders of Guinea, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Senegal, Singapore, Spain and Vietnam will also be in attendance.
This will be the 12th G20 summit and the first time it has been hosted by Germany. It is being hosted at the Hamburg Messe and Congress, a large convention centre which regularly hosts trade fairs.
There were surreal scenes ahead of the event, as hundreds of activists dressed up as zombies in a “Welcome to hell” demonstration. The protests on the eve of the summit’s opening became more violent, with riot police firing water cannons at demonstrators after they pelted cops with rocks.
What will be discussed at the G20 meeting?
Theresa May is set to issue a rallying cry to leaders to develop technology to prevent future “lone wolf” terror attacks following the Manchester and London Bridge atrocities. The Prime Minister will call for new tools to be introduced to spot suspicious transfers of small sums of money in order to detect terrorist funding.
She will also urge world leaders to share more intelligence on the movement of known jihadi fighters returning from battle in Syria and Iraq. Donald Trump will meet Vladimir Putin at the summit – and the US president offered rare public criticism of Russia’s “destabilising” behaviour ahead of their talks.
Trump is also set for talks with May, who is poised to challenge him over climate change after he pulled out of the Paris Agreement in June. Their discussions will also focus on missile testing by North Korea in the face of escalating nuclear weapon development from Kim Jong-un’s state in recent months.
Germany and the US could find themselves on collision course in Hamburg after Angela Merkel signalled that climate change, free trade and migration would be key themes of the summit.
Summit agenda
Apart from usual, recurring themes “relating to global economic growth, international trade and financial market regulation”,the G20 Hamburg summit is expected to focus on the following “issues of global significance”:
More inclusive growth
Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: In spite of the recent US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the German presidency wants to make the most of the “renewed public policy interest for environmental sustainability, gender equity and social inclusiveness, in the spirit of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” – notably through the promotion of renewable energy and further fossil fuel divestment in both industrialised and developing nations.
Women’s rights and economic empowerment Refugees and European migrant crisis Counter-terrorism and national security
Cross-cutting policy recommendations Wolfgang Schäuble, the veteran German Federal Minister of Finance, has insisted on the “interconnected” nature of many of the issues facing G20 nations and, thus, on the need to preserve a strong consensus in favor of concerted, crosscuting policy measures: “Globalization has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, but there is also a growing rise in frustration in some quarters Development, national security and migration are all interlinked”