Indonesia Island Bali is busy hosting the most strained edition of the G20, or Group 20 countries on 15 and 16 November. The annual summit will host for two days with including G20 members – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. The G20 was created after the Asian financial crisis in 1999, and the members consider themselves something of a superpowers club that manages future crises.
Beside political issues such as US-China tensions and Russian-Ukraine war, there are plenty of other issues on the discussion block. Soaring inflation, the ever-looming threat of a global recession, nuclear threats and perhaps most alarming of all, a rapidly warming earth are key agenda of discussions.
Amid all this ambiguity, the host and Indonesian President Joko Widodo is trying to play chief dealmaker, however, the success of the summit is in limbo.
No peace without dialogue
Of course, the host leader, Widodo will try level best to make this summit a success. He already insisted on co-existence and peace, and believes that there would be no peace in the world sans dialogue.
In fact, Widodo seemed sanguine about what has been described as the most diplomatically delicate and stressful G20 ever, but the first face-to-face meeting between US President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping at the sidelines of the summit, have reported positive. Both sides made their best efforts to refrain from “cold war” which shows the first success of the summit.
Mr. Widodo has good relations with both Washington and Beijing as they remained as top trade partners, but in recent years China has consistently ranked as one of its top foreign investors.
Mr. Widodo is hosting the G20 summit as he is in the final stretch of his presidency as he has to stand down after two terms in the presidential palace.
Will the G20 make progress on many crippling issues?
Undoubtedly, there are plenty of issues to deal with. The COVID-19 pandemic has wrecked the global economy as it affected the supply chains. It has also slowed down global trade where even many developing countries pushed into the verge of bankruptcy.
The second headache is war in Ukraine that has created a global energy crisis and runaway inflation, prompting central banks to drastically raise interest rates.
All this is adding up to what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is predicting will be a bad 2023 for the global economy. The 2023 slowdown will be broad-based, with countries accounting for about one-third of the global economy poised to contract this year or next, according to the IMF. It is feared that the global economy continues to face steep challenges as the IMF said that the worst is yet to come and, for many people, 2023 will feel like a recession.
This time G20 summit comes aimed political wrangling
It would not be wise to think that all the issues will be resolved in the summit. This time the world leaders are much divided on several fronts, starting from the Russia-Ukraine war to US and Middle Eastern issues and from Turkey to EU substance and so on. In such a context, it would be a difficult task on how to address these problems. The best Mr. Widodo can do in this summit is to open a window for discussions between the leaders which itself is a big development and pave the ground for face-to-face talks.
Much of G20’s work happens behind the close doors
It’s unlikely all the issues will be resolved in Bali in just two days of meetings. It has several dimensions, and needs more practical steps once promised by the world leaders to overcome it. Though there is high hope at the summit, but, in fact much of the G20’s work happens quietly behind the scenes, with leaders and high-ranking officials meeting throughout the year under a rotating presidency to address global economic challenges.
Rising tensions and deepening economic crisis have highlighted the need that these leaders should share the outcome of the summit in order to provide some relief to the anxiety of the people who are scrambling with delicate economic conditions and worried over the trend of daily inflation.
However, this year’s summit would take place in the backdrop of food and fuel prices spiking worldwide, and the renewed threat of nuclear war. There will also be one conspicuous absence around the table, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia is represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
