G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration

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    •  The G20 summit was recently concluded in Bali, Indonesia.

    More about the news

    • India’s Presidency:
      • Indonesia handed over the G20 presidency to India for the coming year as the Bali summit of the grouping ended with the member states finalising the joint declaration. 
    • Bali Leaders’ Declaration:
      • War in Ukraine:
        • The declaration stated that the war in Ukraine is causing economic difficulties and insecurity worldwide.
        • It also termed the threat of using nuclear weapons in the war as “inadmissible”.
        • Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – 
          • Constraining growth, 
          • Increasing inflation, 
          • Disrupting supply chains, 
          • Heightening energy and food security and 
          • Elevating financial stability risks, said the declaration. 
      • Threats to security:
        • The G20 declaration also called upon the international community to “step up” efforts to counter 
          • Money laundering, 
          • Terrorism financing and 
          • Proliferation financing 
          • The declaration also urged the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and FATF Style Regional Bodies to “lead global action” to respond to these threats. 
    • Multilateral Trading System (MTS):
      • The leaders also said the “rules-based, non-discriminatory, free, fair, open, inclusive, equitable, sustainable and transparent multilateral trading system (MTS) with the WTO [World Trade Organisation] at its core, is indispensable” to advancing inclusive growth among the member states.
    • Background of the declaration:
      • U.S. President Joe Biden chaired an emergency meeting of the western bloc in Bali after a missile from the Ukrainian battlefield landed in Przewodow in eastern Poland near the Polish border with Ukraine. 
      • NATO countries called for an emergency meeting to determine who exactly fired the missile.

    Know about G20

    • Origin:
      • The G20 was formed in 1999 in the backdrop of the financial crisis of the late 1990s that hit East Asia and Southeast Asia in particular. 
      • Its aim was to secure global financial stability by involving middle-income countries. 
      • As stated by the official G20 Website: 
        • “On the advice of the G7 Finance Ministers, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors began holding meetings to discuss the response to the global financial crisis that occurred,” 
    • Objectives:
      • Policy coordination between its members in order to achieve global economic stability, sustainable growth;
      • To promote financial regulations that reduce risks and prevent future financial crises; and
      • To create a new international financial architecture.
    • Members & guests: 
      • Members: 
        • Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. 
        • Spain is also invited as a permanent guest.
      • Others: 
        • Each year, the Presidency invites guest countries, which take full part in the G20 exercise. Several international and regional organizations also participate, granting the forum an even broader representation. 
    • Together, the G20 countries include: 
      • 60 percent of the world’s population, 
      • 80 percent of global GDP, and 
      • 75 percent of global trade.
    • Presidency of G20 & Troika:
      • The presidency of the G20 rotates every year among members.
      • The country holding the presidency, together with the previous and next presidency-holder, forms the ‘Troika’ to ensure continuity of the G20 agenda. 
    • Working of G20:
      • The G20 has no permanent secretariat. 
      • The agenda and work are coordinated by representatives of the G20 countries, known as ‘Sherpas’, who work together with the finance ministers and governors of the central banks. 
      • India recently said ex-NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant would be the G20 Sherpa after Piyush Goyal.
    • Meetings and Summits:
      • Since 1999, an annual meeting of finance ministers has taken place.
      • The first G20 Summit took place in 2008 in Washington DC, US. 
      • In addition to Summits, the Sherpa meetings (that help in negotiations and building consensus), and other events are also organised throughout the year.
      • The Finance Track:
        • Within the G20 process, Finance Track includes the meetings held among Finance and Economy Ministers, Central Bank Governors, Vice Ministers and Sherpas (negotiators) designated by the respective economic ministries.
    • Criticisms:
      • The G-20 has been criticized for various reasons like: 
        • Lack of transparency, 
        • Encouraging trade agreements that strengthen large corporations, 
        • Being slow to combat climate change, and 
        • Failing to address social inequality and global threats to democracy.
      • Membership policies:
        • The G-20’s membership policies have come under fire, too. 
        • Critics say the group is overly restrictive, and its practice of adding guests, such as those from African countries, is not proven very effective.

    India’s action Plan for its Presidency

    • According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India will strengthen international support for priorities of vital importance to developing countries in diverse social and economic sectors, ranging from 
      • Energy, agriculture, trade, digital economy, health and environment to 
      • Employment, tourism, anti-corruption and women empowerment, including in focus areas that impact the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. 
    • Criticisms:
      • It has been criticised that this plan lacks specificity. 
      • India has lost a chance to nudge the G20 and regional organisations towards its focus areas.
    • Confronting global challenges:
      • Currently, there are five challenges plaguing the world that the G20 can attempt to fix. 
        • First and most pressing is the in-your-face Russia–Ukraine conflict.
        • The second challenge is of rising prices, particularly of food.
        • The third challenge is energy. 
          • Russia is teaching the world that while sanctions against it could impact its economy in the future, but in the short term, these sanctions are failing. 
        • As rising food and energy prices lead to inflation, the fourth challenge is the manner in which countries are attempting to fix the problem. 
        • The fifth challenge is the threat of stagflation.

    Source: TH

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