The G20 Summit in Indonesia left some memorable moments – from the emergency meeting of the G7 due to missiles to when Anne Hathaway came to Bali. What else happened?
THE G20 is a forum created with the intention of tackling global economic challenges cooperatively while also fostering close relationships among the participating nations. The grouping consists of South Africa, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, England, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, France, China, Turkey, and the European Union.
“Recover Together, Recover Stronger” is the Indonesian government’s campaign slogan for this year’s presidency. The message behind the slogan is that Indonesia wants to inspire the rest of the world to support and aid one another as they recover from the damage caused by COVID-19 and continue to grow stronger. They also hoped to strengthen the partnership environment by increasing productivity, improving stability, ensuring continued and inclusive growth, and establishing stronger global collective leadership.
The exit strategy to support recovery was a top agenda item during Indonesia’s G20 presidency. The objective is to safeguard countries in recovery (especially developing countries) from exit policies from countries that are already recovering economically (typically developed countries); addressing its scarring effects to secure future growth; investigating how productivity growth can help mitigate the long-term effects of the crisis.
The universal payment system in the digital age and the fundamental principles for creating CBDC were also topics of discussion.
Then came the sustainable finance agenda, which discussed how the macroeconomy and financial stability would be affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy and the risk of climate change.
Financial inclusion is also being discussed in the context of developing open banking in order to increase productivity, promote inclusive economies, and finance underserved groups such as women, young people, and small and medium-sized businesses.
Last but not least, work on the Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) package is currently underway, and as part of the completion of Pillar One, a multilateral convention will be signed in the first half of 2023.
Along with the main agenda, President Jokowi worked diplomatically to avert a conflict between Russia and Ukraine and persuade people to avert a global crisis. This initiative advances due to the majority of G20 members denouncing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which led to the Bali Leaders’ Declaration. The declaration also includes an “Annex G20 Action for Strong and Inclusive Recovery,” which lists 226 multilateral G20 collaborations worth a total of $238 billion, as well as 140 bilateral collaborations with Indonesia worth a total of $71.4 billion. The full text of the declaration can be accessed here.
In addition to the summit itself, some noteworthy events that took place during the event’s time frame included:
Five ASEAN central banks—Bank Indonesia (BI), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Bank of Thailand (BOT)—signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cross-border payments prior to the summit.
An urgent meeting of NATO and the G7 nations was held after hearing about a missile explosion in Poland, not far from the border with Ukraine, which is still defending itself against the Russian invasion. It was attended by the presidents of Canada, the European Commission, the European Council, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
To decarbonize Indonesia’s coal-powered economy as part of the Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership, the G7 nations, the EU, Denmark, and Norway announced a US$20 billion agreement.
US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping also met on 14th November for three hours after US officials made contact with their Chinese counterparts in the months leading up to the conference to set up the meeting. The goal of the meeting was to improve the nations’ deteriorating communication and relations in the aftermath of US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in 2022.
And the international actress Anne Hathaway attended B20, a session that was part of the G20 summit series of activities, as the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador. She participated in a discussion on “Accelerating Economic Transformation and Inclusive Productivity Growth.” Additionally present were Christian Gebara, CEO of Telefonica Brazil, and Anthony Tan, CEO and co-founder of Grab.
Indonesia also took advantage of the opportunity to promote its culture by providing souvenirs to G20 Summit attendees. The souvenirs were created by local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) chosen from among the 1.204 SMEs who applied for the event. The SMEs are Pandora Mutiara, Kallestory Eyewear, Borobudur Silver, Maharani Craft, Hape, Batika, Dehealth Supplies, Fragrande Kreasi Alami, Adem Juice & Smoothies, Tri Utami Jaya, Yagi Natural Indonesia, Samsara, Lima Menara Sejahtera, Imagenation, Faber Instrument Indonesia, Pala Nusantara, Hucravindo, Furniwell Calistaprima, Wonnow Handcrafted, and Suryoart. Indonesia also provided clothing made of traditional fabrics, such as Kain Tenun Ikat Catri Klungkung Bali and Batik Tiga Negeri Pekalongan, for the delegations to wear.
