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G20 - Summit of Leaders - Summary and Background For Kossacks

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A quick look at G20. — G20 This year under the presidency of Republic of Germany. I apologize in advance for the heavy dollop of boring crap. I had intended for this to be just a brief primer but somehow it got longer and longer despite my efforts to make it as small as possible. For those that do enjoy a pile of reading for whatever reason, be it to help with piles, or lack of sleep or in some cases an actual excitement, you are welcome.

Backdrop:

G20 was came into being around 1999 after various other efforts at establishing a global finance governance attempts were made made. 1990s saw many changes in the world with collapse of Soviet Union and its allies. Market liberalization, wholesale privatization, economy tethering and associated corruption, capital flights and economy collapses took place.

Various workshops, meetings, discussions amongst the economic policy drivers and their counterparts from participating members took place. Economy  policy drivers: people who set  economic, finance, monetary, taxation and banking  policies. People like Finance Ministers, Governors of Central Banks.

For most of the the early part group was focused primarily in financial and market liberalization policies. Over time it has expanded to include other peripheral themes within the context of financial  stability. So we have things like women in business, young people in business, scientists in business etc etc. Even now the whole thing is still encapsulated within the business context. Event terrorism/anti-terrorism is is bound within the business context because terrorism is bad for business.

Core concept of free trade, free market, ease of doing business and accountability have been the driver of these get together events.

Currently:

What is and is not G20

“The G20 is the central forum for international cooperation on financial and economic questions. The G20 countries account for more than four-fifths of gross world product and three-quarters of global trade, and are home to almost two-thirds of the world’s population.”

G20 is a forum. It is not a treaty organization. It is not a unified policy making institution. It is simply a discussion forum. Thus G20 has neither a permanent office nor management/administrative staff.

G20 forum has an understanding among the participants to have a annually rotating presidency. Whichever nation holds the presidency sets up temporary office/secretariat to manage the operational activities during its presidency. For the year 2017 presidency is held by Germany.

There are a number of forums scheduled based on specific topic or policy area. Most are attended by delegations from each nation which usually is made up of people with demonstrable expertise in the said topic. However USA delegations since assumption of presidency by Donald Trump has been  a bit weird.

The delegations from USA have been headed in many instances by someone with no experience or relevance. Luckily for USA a lot of the dialogues/forums are specified with some specific role so there have not been as many mishaps. Although there was that weird scenario  like Ivanka Trump leading the US delegation to G20 forum on “W20 Dialogue Forum with Women in Business, Science and Society on 25 and 26 April 2017 in Berlin”.

There are also many topic/policy specific forums of  Ministers (for Americans read that as cabinet secretary of whatever department) associated with the policy area.

Calendar of Scheduled Dialogue events: There are many events (dialogue forums) taking place throughout the year. For those who are interested full schedule here at G20 Germany Website → English Language Link. https://www.g20.org/Webs/G20/EN/G20/Calendar/calendar_node.html

All these dialogues in turn are aimed towards preparing a joint statement of intentions and form a part of advisory to the summit of leaders.

Each year the topical and future path related theme as determined by the host/presidency nation plays a big part in determine what events take place.

The Leaders Hang Out Together (or listen to boring presentations)

There also happens to be a summit of Heads of Governments/States since 2008. The summit of leaders was started in the wake of finance and banking industry disaster of 2008 with a view of having a solution and mutual  support dialogue for how that crisis as well as what future crisis might emerge or might be deflected by working together. Annual leaders summit elevated the news coverage and public awareness of G20. It also lent a bit more credibility to G20 as a group.

At the end of each session a joint communique (statement) is issued. The statements issued has so far (since 2008) have declared that there is a need to work together. Apart from that acknowledgement rest is very vague and reads like a 10 year old in church choirboy who is simultaneously responsible for reporting events and declaring what the global policy should be.

{Have there been or are there such things as church choir girls? Not sure about where the numerous churches stand in regards to women.}

The language of the statement is very much inclusive and all encompassing “we”. Most statements are forward looking, hope generating, and vaguely promising to strive to do better. Most of it constitutes a platonic statements. There are an occasional actual agreements usually based around financing or refinancing of various international institutional Banks. These would have been hammered out  separately at that particular institutions governance and financing meeting. Summit just restates the agreements previously already made.

Any promises implied, any actions indicated, any policies supported or otherwise are not binding on anyone.

In each iteration of statement from each summit the running backdrop is the affirmation for cooperation between the nations, promotion of  free market, promotion of good finance governance,  commitment to global finance reform.

Choirboy?  I only remember choirboy from all that junk.

Here are a few examples,

if you do not want to puke then please skip and scroll fast until you see stop scrolling in big bold letters.

2008 Washington DC →

We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, held an initial meeting in      Washington on November 15, 2008, amid serious challenges to the world      economy and financial markets. We are determined to enhance our      cooperation and work together to restore global growth and achieve needed      reforms in the world's financial systems.   Over the past months our countries have taken urgent and exceptional      measures to support the global economy and stabilize financial markets.       These efforts must continue.  At the same time, we must lay the foundation      for reform to help to ensure that a global crisis, such as this one, does      not happen again.  Our work will be guided by a shared belief that market      principles, open trade and investment regimes, and effectively regulated      financial markets foster the dynamism, innovation, and entrepreneurship      that are essential for economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction.

2009 London →

We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, met in London on 2 April 2009.   We face the greatest challenge to the world economy in modern times; a crisis  which has deepened since we last met, which affects the lives of women, men, and children in every country, and which all countries must join together to resolve. A global crisis requires a global solution.   We start from the belief that prosperity is indivisible; that growth, to be sustained, has to be shared; and that our global plan for recovery must have at its heart the needs and jobs of hard-working families, not just in developed countries but in emerging markets and the poorest countries of the world too; and must reflect the interests, not just of today’s population, but of future generations too. We believe that the only sure foundation for sustainable globalisation and rising prosperity for all is an open world economy based on market principles, effective regulation, and strong global institutions.   We have today therefore pledged to do whatever is necessary to:     restore confidence, growth, and jobs; repair the financial system to restore lending; strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust; fund and reform our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones; promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity; and build an inclusive, green, and sustainable recovery.

2010 Pittsburgh

1.  We meet in the midst of a critical transition from crisis to recovery  to turn the page on an era of irresponsibility and to adopt a set of  policies, regulations and reforms to meet the needs of the 21st century global economy.

 2. When we last gathered in April, we confronted the greatest challenge to the world economy in our generation.

 3.  Global output was contracting at pace not seen since the 1930s. Trade  was plummeting. Jobs were disappearing rapidly. Our people worried that  the world was on the edge of a depression.

 4. At that time,  our countries agreed to do everything necessary to ensure recovery, to  repair our financial systems and to maintain the global flow of  capital.

 5. It worked.

 6. Our forceful response helped  stop the dangerous, sharp decline in global activity and stabilize  financial markets. Industrial output is now rising in nearly all our  economies. International trade is starting to recover. Our financial  institutions are raising needed capital, financial markets are showing  a willingness to invest and lend, and confidence has improved.

 7.  Today, we reviewed the progress we have made since the London Summit in  April. Our national commitments to restore growth resulted in the  largest and most coordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus ever  undertaken. We acted together to increase dramatically the resources  necessary to stop the crisis from spreading around the world. We took  steps to fix the broken regulatory system and started to implement  sweeping reforms to reduce the risk that financial excesses will again  destabilize the global economy.

 8. A sense of normalcy should not lead to complacency.

 9.  The process of recovery and repair remains incomplete. In many  countries, unemployment remains unacceptably high. The conditions for a  recovery of private demand are not yet fully in place. We cannot rest  until the global economy is restored to full health, and hard-working  families the world over can find decent jobs.

2016 Hangzhou

1. We, the Leaders of the G20, met in Hangzhou, China on 4-5 September 2016.

2. We met at a time when the global economic recovery is progressing, resilience is improved in some economies and new sources for growth are emerging. But growth is still weaker than desirable. Downside risks remain due to potential volatility in the financial markets, fluctuations of commodity prices, sluggish trade and investment, and slow productivity and employment growth in some countries. Challenges originating from geopolitical developments, increased refugee flows as well as terrorism and conflicts also complicate the global economic outlook.

3. We also met at a time of continued shifts and profound transformations in the configuration of the global economic landscape and dynamics for growth. With these transformations come challenges and uncertainties as well as opportunities. The choices we make together will determine the effectiveness of our response to the challenges of today and help to shape the world economy of the future.

4. We believe that closer partnership and joint action by G20 members will boost confidence in, foster driving forces for and intensify cooperation on global economic growth, contributing to shared prosperity and better well-being of the world .

5. We are determined to foster an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy to usher in a new era of global growth and sustainable development, taking into account the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

6. In this context, we, the G20, as the premier forum for international economic cooperation, forge a comprehensive and integrated narrative for strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth, and thereby adopt the attached package of policies and actions - the Hangzhou Consensus - based on the following:

----Vision. We will strengthen the G20 growth agenda to catalyze new drivers of growth, open up new horizons for development, lead the way in transforming our economies in a more innovative and sustainable manner and better reflect shared interests of both present and coming generations.

----Integration. We will pursue innovative growth concepts and policies by forging synergy among fiscal, monetary and structural policies, enhancing coherence between economic, labour, employment and social policies as well as combining demand management with supply side reforms, short-term with mid- to long-term policies, economic growth with social development and environmental protection.

----Openness. We will work harder to build an open world economy, reject protectionism, promote global trade and investment, including through further strengthening the multilateral trading system, and ensure broad-based opportunities through and public support for expanded growth in a globalized economy.

----Inclusiveness. We will work to ensure that our economic growth serves the needs of everyone and benefits all countries and all people including in particular women, youth and disadvantaged groups, generating more quality jobs, addressing inequalities and eradicating poverty so that no one is left behind

For the vacuousness and the statement of obvious perhaps a separate diary is needed. Even the authoritarian regimes and corrupt administrations across G20 have agreed to the language of summit.

Stop Scrolling Here To Read More.

Since each presidency maintains its own information centre,  research for background reading, various declarations and documents and statements take a bit longer to put together and some are very elusive. Luckily University of Toronto (Canada)  has a G20 Research Group that has collated as much information as possible together. Link here → http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/ For researcher this is a nice repository of information.

Of course with the famous German efficiency you can read summit documents them here too → https://www.g20.org/Webs/G20/EN/G20/Summit_documents/summit_documents_node.html

Older G20 summit specific sites by the host nation does not always have previous documents. They definitely do not have any documents related to subsequent summits.

Now For What To Expect With Trump:

With Trump administration actively pursuing protectionist agenda with a strong dislike of collective activities the upcoming summit promises to be interesting. Of course there is the personality and temperament related unexpected and expected behaviour of Trump also promise to make G20 summit interesting.

I will cover policy related stuff in the next section. For personality related stuff read the following from various Kossacks. There are plenty of these so I need not repeat them. Some notable ones I have listed here below since I think they are worth having a look through if you have missed them before.

By hobie1616 diary here -G20-Will-Trump-Ask-Putin-For-Political-Asylum : has a nice cartoon but not much content beyond the headline. Some fun comments worth reading.

by Mark Sumner here -Donald-Trump-goes-gift-shopping-for-Vladimir-Putin a nice collection of informed links and quotes combined with own take. Comments providing a few amusements and a few other serious entries .

by Murfster35 here -Watch-the-upcoming-G20-conference-it-should-be-fun a  post with lots of quotes from politico combined with Murfster35’s own commentary. Most of the kossack discussions are mostly weird with some very good pieces.

by annieli here --TrumpRussia-G20-concessions-are-also-collusion-for-Mr-blood-from-wherever a very neat diry put together with ample humour and seriousness combined into a thoughtful piece.

oh and an aside about Erdogan of Turkey by here -Breaking-News-Erdogan-Hoodlums-Warned-Not-to-Attend-G20-Summit

US Trump Administration Policy And G20.

There is a noticeable disparity between US Administration stance and G20 historical stance. There are plenty of authoritarian leaders in G20. That has not stopped them from agreeing to the core basis under which G20 has been convened.

So we have an administration promoting, crafting protectionist policies backed by decrees aka executive orders.  G20 summits so far has taken extra pains to emphasize the importance of free trade, minimal barriers and has specifically declared that protectionist policies are not a done thing.

This year Germany as the host nation has emphasized interconnectedness in its logo “Shaping an Interconnected world”, the graphics that go with it, multiple colours of strands go on to group and form a reef knot (G20 Germany Logo Explanation). Trump administration has been more focused on discarding the interconnectedness and focusing on isolationism.

The whole programme has been encapsulated within the framework of of how all economies and interlinked and how changes in one nations economy has far reaching effects on global economy. Acknowledgement and acceptance of interconnectivity is implicit in all dialogues.

Full agenda/priorities  can be found here — http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2017/2016-g20-praesidentschaftspapier-en.pdf or at https://www.g20.org/Webs/G20/EN/G20/Agenda/agenda_node.html For summary, the last page has a nice picture. If anyone manage to grab that picture please drop me a note.

The document while very dull to read is still worthwhile having a look through when you have an hour or so free. This document, starting with a letter from from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany as the leader of host nation, sets out the context, parameters and priorities of the summit.

So within this framework of interconnectedness lets look at each of the priorities. All priorities rely and depended on working together (cooperation), avoiding unilateral actions to disrupt the balance,  maintain and acknowledge interconnectedness of economies and societies.

One Priority at a time:

Strengthening economic resilience: Increasing stability and resiliency of each individual economy  so that ups and downs can be weathered as well as a big meltdown like 2008 can be avoided. So US going out of its way to deliberately screw up its own economy as well as other reliant partners is not really going to help. On top of that US administration working to undermine and constantly hammer EU is not going to go down well.

Strengthening the international financial architecture: Global financial architecture means various international funds and multi-nation banks like OECD, IMF, Worldbank, ADB, ECB, ADVB, AIDB, SCO, AIIB. Currently agenda while supportive of free movement of capital also recognizes the risks capital flight poses to individual countries. Currently G20 is still searching for a mutually agreeable path forward in this area. Individual nation bailouts carried out by different banks/funds have their own funding criteria to be met which might impose restrictions which are at times counter-intuitive and sometimes even outright detrimental to society.

Competing interests between different political and trade groups means that an solution is unlikely while each individual groups try and make their own group a bit more resilient. In practice this has meant USA dominated funds have attempted to throw a spanner into other groups works. Other groups who have a bank/fund of their own or at least one where they can swing the decisions are EU (European Union), SCO (Shangai Cooperation Organization), ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), EEU (Eurasian Economic Union), APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation). Naturally some funds are big and others are small.

USA with its more isolationist policies is likely to find that organizations with minimal US influence will be seeing more participation in institutions by its traditional western European allies thereby eroding US influence in global financial policies.

Further Developing Financial Markets: Focused on standards of finance governance, monitoring and regulating finance markets. A lot of fluffy discussion about need for financial markets reform and how to make it inclusive. A bit ambitious take in last few summits with discussions on how to tackle shadow banking.

So for us that would be how to monitor banking by thieves and robbers and cheats on big scale. Political kickbacks in return for extra-governmental services like ‘hey we give you $10 Million and you change your government policy. When these are done at individual levels these are termed corruption. When it is done at a national institution level it is called investment, trade agreements, national loans.  

While individual influences could possibly be curbed or at least monitored better, at the national levels it goes against the usual diplomacy tactics. Most of influence peddling in international organizations usually rely on trade incentives, arms sales and invitations for visits.

Making taxation fair and reliable internationally: This discussion has been a staple item in the agenda through many previous summits. G20 has nominally been all for fair taxation, tax harmonization, reliability and stability of tax regimes. Usually this has meant pushing the tax havens to be a bit more open and transparent as well as limit tax shelters. The group has been fairly successful in this arena as it has pushed for reform with a bit more unified approach. Usual tax havens have seen that they are  progressively under assault and have been forced to make various concessions.

I currently have no thoughts on  how this will affect the administration which benefits from the tax havens while at the same time the nation itself is internally promoting more supportive banking and taxing facilities that seem designed to  compete with to tax havens. Please compensate for my deficiency and add your thoughts in the comments.

Deepening Cooperation on trade and investment: G20 has with its multilateralism stance when it comes to trade  is a cheerleader for any other multilateral trade organizations, trade agreements and nations investing in each others economies. An enthusiastic promoter so far of rule based trade based around WTO (World Trade Organization) the largest most inclusive international trade rules arrangement, an agreement if you like.

It is however now in direct policy conflict with USA which is in favour of scrapping all multilateral trade deals in favour of individual bilateral trades. An agreement of a commitment to multilateralism is likely to prove as elusive as it was for NATO allies to to get US to reiterate its commitment to article 5. On top of that some of the G20 members (UK, France, Italy, South Africa) have growing political movements and parties that are clamouring more nation border and protectionist policies.

Labelling and vilifying of individual nations as problem creators for USA has also indicated that the current US administration either does not understand what and how trade works in this interconnected world or it is wilfully and deliberately ignoring that for domestic agenda unrelated to trade. Trade agreements and arrangements and the fall out of their collapse have been categorized as something US administration is willing to sacrifice and trade off (ha) for other domestic social changes.

Enhancing and improving employment: G20 has previously acknowledged that private sector plays a big part in creating jobs. Along with this recognition has adopted the philosophy of needing to get more women into work and integration of migrants and refugees into labour force. G20 nations are at odds with each other when it comes to protection of labour and free movement of labour. Some nations like USA and UK and to some extent many other EU nations have a growing movement as well as policies of nativism and exclusion. While the exclusionary voices are gaining grounds in some of the G20 nations, governing coalitions in most are still committed to free trade with the notable exception of USA, UK and South Africa.

Protecting the climate and advancing sustainable Energy supply: The need for availability of energy is implicit. Solutions for provision of this energy however have on occasions led to other problems. G20 had been pushing for environmentally friendly energy supply. A long term vision to 2030 and beyond operating in longer time frame for solutions. In terms of carbon emission unsurprisingly biggest polluters are in G20. Different participants are moving at different rates. Paris Climate Change Accord (aka Paris Accord on Climate Change aka Paris Agreement)   under the auspices and efforts of UN was only successful due to commitment from G20 nations. However those commitments and targets agreed upon were effectively individual nations aiming to get to certain targets for themselves. It was not a an enforceable treaty. At the most it emphasized voluntary nature of the accord and  individual nations self imposed goals.

With the US government pulling out of Paris Agreement and the subsequent responses from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, India and China very clearly showed that there is a very big policy differences. US administration has now gone so far as to officially adopt the stance that Climate change and man made contribution to it does not exist. Policies adopted and implemented since then have indicated a an outright denial of the problems as well as short term political expediency for whatever gains. So any fruitful or optimistic agreement even on the usual end of summit communique is unlikely to be  achieved.

Protecting the climate and advancing sustainable Energy supply: G20 had been pushing for environmentally friendly energy supply. A long term vision to 2030 and beyond operating in longer time frame for solutions. In terms of carbon emission unsurprisingly biggest polluters are in G20. Different participants are moving at different rates. Paris Climate Change Accord (aka Paris Accord on Climate Change aka Paris Agreement)   under the auspices and efforts of UN was only successful due to commitment from G20 nations. However those commitments and targets agreed upon were effectively individual nations aiming to get to certain targets for themselves. It was not a an enforceable treaty. At the most it emphasized voluntary nature of the accord and  individual nations self imposed goals.

With the US government pulling out of Paris Agreement and the subsequent responses from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, India and China very clearly showed that there is a very big policy differences. US administration has now gone so far as to officially adopt the stance that Climate change and man made contribution to it does not exist. Policies adopted and implemented since then have indicated a an outright denial of the problems as well as short term political expediency for whatever gains. So any fruitful or optimistic agreement even on the usual end of summit communique is unlikely to be  achieved.

Making Progress On Implementation of 2030 Agenda: 2030 Agenda (aka Sustainable Development Goals aka Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) is UN led efforts to categorize and reach agreement on a list of goals and objectives for sustainable development.  Efforts led by UN Secretary General (Mr “We do not have a plan B because there is no planet B”) Ban Ki-Moon. This visionary and long term view and goals goes into more detail with very lofty and ideal global goals (17 goals/areas with 169 specific targets).  Goals include stuff like No poverty, zero hunger, good health, clean water, peace and justice. You can read more about it here at UN → https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

Once more these make neither any binding agreement are nor a commitment from signatories. The goals and targets are out there in the ether to provide something to strive for.

G20 German presidency is emphasizing the need for making progress individually and jointly. Reminder that discussion and progress is essential and that there is a need to keep at it and not let it go to the sidelines just because we are dealing with other near term or temporary goals.

Once again the efforts require first an acceptance that nations are interconnected and that we can do something towards it. More importantly an acknowledgement  that these goals are desirable goals.

Once again US government policies and agenda based on unwillingness to accept basic human dignity and an adoption of supremacist, divisive policies within domestic sphere has meant that the goals themselves are at odds with US governments policy.

To ask any US government in the last 50 years to have a long term global view beyond maintaining supremacy of US$ has been a pointless exercise. With the current US administration  now it seems positively foolhardy. It is very easy to anticipate US leader declaring at the summit that there is no point to this 2030 Agenda and US is going to pull out of this stupidity.

Seizing the opportunity of digital technology: A reiteration that technology and innovation drive economy. recognition that this provides better access to financial services, wider and more egalitarian employment opportunities.  However a caution is also invited to ensure that personal privacy as well as prevention of abuse of market through the means of technology.  This for Germany and its traditional European partners  has meant pushing for more citizen privacy, preventing monopolies or monopoly like abuse of outsized influence. Google and Apple both have previously felt the European ire at their shenanigans.

From US perspective most common reaction has been an restatement of F. D. Roosevelt statement about Samoza.  “He is bastard. Yes, but he's our bastard”. This sentiment has been repeated many times.

Inability or unwillingness of successive US governments to differentiate between the right thing to do and wrongdoings of own cohorts has been a foreign policy hallmark. This has consistently intermingled with trade relationships to form an interdependent policy. This has also extended to acceptance of trade and abuses in other countries by US companies. While at the same time in order to conduct trade US governments have also reciprocally accepted abuses by foreign regimes as long as they traded with US in favourable terms.

The current administration has persistently displayed an antagonistic and protective stance when it comes to misconduct by US companies in global theatre.

Promoting Health: Specifically promoting lives and health of people of all ages as referenced in 2030 agenda. The G20 focus is on promoting health services availability and inclusive policies. Functioning health services should be able to cope with and manage infectious diseases and sporadic outbreaks that occur. The interconnected world while connecting economies also connects other aspects of economic activities. Disease outbreaks and such have potential to impact many economies if they are not  managed and dealt with in the locality. That means things like building  a few hospitals and promoting sanitation projects in places that provide good and services, labour or material is now even more important.

 

Given the willingness of current US administration as well as many successive US legislatures to adopt a stance that health infrastructure and accessibility should be for rich people only (so many healthcare related dailykos diaries you can escape from them) it is unlikely that anything beyond some vague platitudes will be coming forth from US leader.  A substantial chunk of discussion in within US domestic arena has been mostly around who should and should not have healthcare. So it would be delusional to expect US to commit to or even accept the basic premises of healthcare envisioned within 2030 Agenda.

Empowering Women: Liberal philosophies of gender equality and social justice form a  basis of discussion. Acknowledgement that gender biases and discrimination exists. Followed by usual platitudes and promise to improve. Implementation however is disparate in across the G20 depending on presence or absence of various social revolution based around gender, discrimination, opportunities etc etc.

US led by Mr Donald “Grab Them By The Pussy” Trump irrespective of what he says at the summit is definitely going to come across as disingenuous. US administration is currently promoting anti-women agenda. Its partners and allies in local/state governments are mostly concerned with more measures to marginalize and oppress women. In this context even agreement on the language of summit communique is likely to be contentious.

Addressing displacement and migration: German presidency stance unsurprisingly has been that refugee crisis needs an international coordinated solution. This was exemplified within German domestic policies and decisions like accepting a million refugees while other key international partners have consistently refused. Not only refugee crisis needs addressing but the reason and cause also needs addressing. Many of G20 partners and Germany’s other allies within European Union have refused to participate in solution finding. Many led by the example of US administration have been taking an antagonistic and often times down right denial that problem exists.

So we come to current US administration.  Given that successive US governments have not accepted its role in creating the problem and making it worse, current administration that came to power on the back of racist, divisive, refugee vilifying, ban all Muslims policies is neither going accept its role in creating problem nor even acknowledge that problem exists. Furthermore US definitely is not going to be a part of solution.

Intensifying partnership with Africa: African continent with its natural resources is still seen as a plum picking. With the German presidency of G20 focus is now slightly expanded to include social justice and that people are also important attitude. This is also reflected in the promoting health agenda. Some of the G20 have made good progress through bilateral and multilateral trade relationships including investment. Some have walked away as a result of domestic policy reorientation.

US administration with its withdrawal from positive activities in world affairs has meant that economic activities have relied on Anglophile and cold war era allies.  US abandonment of Africa   started after the fall of Soviet Union. This enhanced the view that the only reason US was interested in Africa was to prevent Soviet influence. That opportunity for greater involvement was squandered by successive US administration.

UK and France have successfully maintained their historical ties for what they see as their traditional allies or area of influence. Anglophile and Francophile political groupings of nations even today display ancient suspicions.  Chinese attitude that has uncoupled traditional influence block politics and trade relationships. This uncoupling of political agenda from trade agenda has meant that the attitude of  lets build something and it will employ some Chinese people and some local people, it will supply China. India has tried to emulate China by building on and making more use of its existing Anglophile relationships fostered through Commonwealth of Nations.

Current US administration with its utter disregard of anything beyond ExxonMobil foreign policy means that beyond maintaining access to a couple of sea routes and the lovely petrochemicals US has no other interests.  African partnership and investing in Africa  are not particularly of interest to US.  On the plus side whatever is proposed at summit resolve is likely to be accepted by US without any fuss due to this disinterest.

 

Combatting Terrorist financing and money laundering: Everyone wants to fight terrorism and prevent financing and money laundering. Again calls for more cooperation and more transparency in ownership of various trading entities.

This is one that is going to be easy for everyone to agree to the language of summit communique. Of course each nation individually can decide who is and who is not terrorist.  Financial transparency and prevention of money laundering is likely to impact many of the key participants at the G20 summit itself. So the duplicitous statements and smirks are bound to be plenty. Especially at US and Russia tables.

Fighting corruption: A superficial statements of attempts at fighting corruption are likely to be agreed. Although Trump might just come out and say something like I am the best at corruption, no one else is better. forgetting to type fighting in front. Too many leaders of most of G20 nations have periodically been alleged to be corrupt and on some cases actually charged with corruption domestically. So it is unlikely that anyone is going to pay any attention and probably quietly curse Merkel for including it in G20 priorities.

Improving Food security: Discussion stage is set and the question being posed is if food security can be achieved through means which do not increase water consumption and provide a sustainable growth. Currently this is up for discussion. There are no stances by G20 apart from hope that a solution can be found.

In the background though China has been investing in partnership with many nation to maintain food security in long term range.  India abandoned and prevented new WTO agreement based on the fact that it would have made endangered long term food security for India.

I hope you have enjoyed this and that this has provided a bit more to think about than just the antics of one clown at the summit, Donald Trump .


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