G20
The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union, and the African Union. It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation and sustainable development, through annual meetings of heads of state and heads of government.
The 19 member states of the G20 account for around 85% of gross world product, 75% of international trade, 56% of the global population, and 60% of the world's land area; including the EU and AU, the G20 comprises 78.9% of global population and 83.9% of global CO2 emissions from fossil energy.
The G20 was founded in 1999 in response to several world economic crises. Since 2008, it has convened at least once a year, with summits involving each member's head of government or state, finance minister, or foreign minister, and other high-ranking officials; the EU is represented by the European Commission and the European Central Bank. Other countries, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations are invited to attend the summits, some permanently. The African Union joined as the 21st member at the 2023 summit in India and was officially represented at the 2024 summit in Brazil.
In its 2009 summit, the G20 declared itself the primary venue for international economic and financial cooperation. The group's stature has risen during the subsequent decade, and it is recognised by analysts as exercising considerable global influence; it is also criticised for its limited membership, lack of enforcement powers, and for the alleged undermining of existing international institutions. Summits are often met with protests, particularly by anti-globalization groups.
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
meeting.
A 2004 report by Colin I. Bradford and Johannes F. Linn of the Brookings Institution asserted the group was founded primarily at the initiative of Eichel, the concurrent chair of the G7. However, Bradford later described then-Finance Minister of Canada Paul Martin as "the crucial architect of the formation of the G20 at finance minister level", and as the one who later "proposed that the G20 countries move to leaders level summits". Canadian academic and journalistic sources have also identified the G20 as a project initiated by Martin and his American counterpart then-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. All acknowledge, however, that Germany and the United States played a key role in bringing their vision into reality.
Martin and Summers conceived of the G20 in response to the series of massive debt crises that had spread across emerging markets in the late 1990s, beginning with the Mexican peso crisis and followed by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 1998 Russian financial crisis, and eventually impacting the United States, most prominently in the form of the collapse of the prominent hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in the autumn of 1998. It illustrated to them that in a rapidly globalizing world, the G7, G8, and the Bretton Woods system would be unable to provide financial stability, and they conceived of a new, broader permanent group of major world economies that would give a voice and new responsibilities in providing it.
The G20 membership was decided by Eichel's deputy Caio Koch-Weser and Summers's deputy Timothy Geithner. According to the political economist Robert Wade:
Early topics
The G20's primary focus has been governance of the global economy. 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.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 chairman 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 G8 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.
Summits
The Summit of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, who prepare the leaders' summit and implement their decisions, was created as a response both to the 2008 financial crisis and to a growing recognition that key emerging powers were not adequately included in the core of global economic discussion and governance. Additionally, G20 summits of heads of state or government were held.After the 2008 debut summit in Washington, DC, G20 leaders met twice a year: in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, and in Toronto and Seoul in 2010.
Since 2011, when France chaired and hosted the G20, the summits have been held only once a year. The 2016 summit was held in Hangzhou, China, the 2017 summit was held in Hamburg, Germany, the 2018 summit was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the 2019 summit was held in Osaka, Japan, the 2020 summit was scheduled in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but it was held virtually due to COVID-19, the 2021 summit was held in Rome, Italy, the 2022 summit was held in Bali, Indonesia, the 2023 summit was held in New Delhi, India, the 2024 summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2025 summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The 2026 summit will be held in Miami in the United States.
Several other ministerial-level G20 meetings have been held since 2010. Agriculture ministerial meetings were conducted in 2011 and 2012; meetings of foreign ministers were held in 2012 and 2013; trade ministers met in 2012 and 2014, and employment ministerial meetings have taken place annually since 2010.
In 2012, the G20 Ministers of Tourism and Heads of Delegation of G20 member countries and other invited States, as well as representatives from the World Travel and Tourism Council, World Tourism Organization and other organisations in the Travel & Tourism sector met in Mérida, Mexico, on May 16 at the 4th G20 meeting and focused on 'Tourism as a means to Job Creation'. As a result of this meeting and The World Travel & Tourism Council's Visa Impact Research, later on the Leaders of the G20, convened in Los Cabos on 18–19 June, would recognise the impact of Travel & Tourism for the first time. That year, the G20 Leaders Declaration added the following statement: "We recognise the role of travel and tourism as a vehicle for job creation, economic growth and development, and, while recognizing the sovereign right of States to control the entry of foreign nationals, we will work towards developing travel facilitation initiatives in support of job creation, quality work, poverty reduction and global growth."
In March 2014, the former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop, when Australia was hosting the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane, proposed to ban Russia from the summit over its annexation of Ukrainian Crimea. The BRICS foreign ministers subsequently reminded Bishop that "the custodianship of the G20 belongs to all Member States equally and no one Member State can unilaterally determine its nature and character."
The 2015 G20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey, focused on "Inclusiveness, Investment, and Implementation," gathering leaders to address global economic challenges, development, climate change, and urgent issues like terrorism and refugees. Key outcomes included the Antalya Action Plan and commitments to financial stability, tax regulation, and energy policy.
In 2016, the G20 framed its commitment to the 2030 Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals in three key themes; the promotion of strong sustainable and balanced growth; protection of the planet from degradation; and furthering co-operation with low-income and developing countries. At the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, members agreed on an action plan and issued a high level principles document to member countries to help facilitate the agenda's implementation.
Japan hosted the 2019 summit.
In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia held the Presidency and, in advance of the Summit, convened an extraordinary meeting of the heads of state online in March 2020, which served as an important political gathering to coordinate an international response to COVID-19. The 2020 summit set for Saudi Arabia later that year was instead held virtually on 21–22 November 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 G20 Rome summit which was held in Rome, the capital city of Italy, on 30–31 October 2021.
Indonesia held the 2022 summit in November 2022. During its presidency, Indonesia focused on the global COVID-19 pandemic and how to collectively overcome the challenges related to it. The three priorities of Indonesia's G20 presidency were global health architecture, digital transformations, and sustainable energy transitions. The G20 Presidency of Indonesia, in partnership with the Pandemic Fund secretariat, also officially launched the Pandemic Fund at a high-level event. The Pandemic Fund expected to be as a key part of the solution for reducing risks from epidemics and pandemics in the most vulnerable parts of the world and contributing to a healthier and safer world. Indonesia's 2022 G20 presidency highlighted its leadership in promoting international cooperation, sustainable development, and Islamic messages of peace, including hosting the R20 forum to foster interfaith dialogue.
India held the 2023 summit in September 2023. The presidency's theme was . In an interview on 26 August 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed optimism about the G20 countries' evolving agenda under India's presidency, shifting toward a human-centric development approach that aligns with the concerns of the Global South, including addressing climate change, debt restructuring through the G20's Common Framework for debt, and a strategy for regulation of global cryptocurrencies. G20 expanded by the inclusion of African Union, it is also the first inclusion since 1999.
The 2024 G20 Rio de Janeiro summit in Brazil included the first G20 Social, a "broad space" for including civil society in developing policies related to the summit.