The two-day Group of 20 Leaders’ Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, which concluded on Nov. 16, was an important milestone in the G20’s journey as it successfully produced the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration, reaching a number of agreements and producing several tangible results.

The G20, the premier forum for global economic cooperation, reaffirmed its commitment to cooperate to address serious global economic challenges.

The G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration highlights what G20 countries are supposed to do following the meeting in Bali on Nov.15-16, at a time of unparalleled multidimensional crises.

The Declaration reads, “At today’s critical moment for the global economy, it is essential that the G20 undertakes tangible, precise, swift and necessary actions, using all available policy tools, to address common challenges, including through international macro policy cooperation and concrete collaborations. In doing so, we remain committed to support developing countries, particularly the least developed and small island developing states, in responding to these global challenges and achieving the SDGs.”

“In line with the Indonesian G20 Presidency’s theme - ‘Recover Together, Recover Stronger’ -we will take coordinated actions to advance an agenda for a strong, inclusive and resilient global recovery and sustainable development that delivers jobs and growth,” it says.

The G20 members will “stay agile and flexible in our macro-economic policy responses and cooperation.”

“We will make public investments and structural reforms, promote private investments, and strengthen multilateral trade and resilience of global supply chains, to support long-term growth, sustainable and inclusive, green and just transitions. We will ensure long-term fiscal sustainability, with our central banks committed to achieving price stability,” it added.

The G20 members are also committed to protecting macroeconomic and financial stability and remain committed to using all available tools to mitigate downside risks, noting the steps taken since the Global Financial Crisis to strengthen financial resilience and promote sustainable finance and capital flows.

On food and energy, the G20 members also agreed to take action to promote food and energy security and support stability of markets, providing temporary and targeted support to cushion the impact of price increases, strengthening dialogue between producers and consumers, and increasing trade and investments for long-term food and energy security needs, resilient and sustainable food, fertilizer and energy systems and unlock further investments for low- and middle-income and other developing countries, through a greater variety of innovative financing sources and instruments, including to catalyze private investment, to support the achievement of the SDGs.

“We ask the Multilateral Development Banks to bring forward actions to mobilize and provide additional financing within their mandates, to support achievement of the SDGs including through sustainable development and infrastructure investments, and responding to global challenges,” it said.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that aside from the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration, the Indonesian G20 Summit of Leaders had produced concrete outcomes.

“These include the establishment of the Pandemic Fund, which has managed to raise US$1.5 billion and the Operationalization of Resilience and Sustainability Trust [RST] under the IMF to help vulnerable countries that face crisis,” said President Jokowi at a press conference in Nusa Dua, Bali on Nov. 16 after closing the G20 Summit of Leaders.

Jokowi said earlier at the rolling out of the Pandemic Fund that the G20 Pandemic Fund was backed by around 17 members of the G20, non-G20 countries and several world philanthropists.

The President referred to a figure based on a research conducted by the World Bank in early 2022. He pointed out that the world needed funding support of up to US$31.1 billion annually to prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics.

According to him, pandemics should no longer claim many lives and destroy the global economy. “Therefore, the G20 is preparing strong health architecture through the Pandemic Fund,” he said.

Of the $1.5 billion, $450 million was contributed by the European Union and the United States respectively, $102 by Italy and $50 million by Indonesia. Several other countries have stated their commitment to participate in this global health funding.

According to a press statement released by the G20, this funding is expected to be able to seal the gap experienced by developing and poor countries in facing future pandemics. Apart from the size of the fund, it is also necessary to pay attention to its sustainability in the medium term. Global digital network development and worldwide vaccine certification are also needed.

Regarding the global funding, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Pandemic Fund would be a solution and an effort to accelerate anticipation in dealing with future pandemics.

She expressed her hope that the fund would be able to maximize available funding, to provide more concrete results based on the conditions of a country.

Meanwhile, Indonesia along with 14 international agencies, including philanthropists signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on accelerating energy transition. The multilateral collaborations involved the Asia Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Development Bank, World Bank and HSBC among others.

The collaboration will put Indonesia in the forefront in providing clean energy globally. “The energy transition program will not disrupt the economic recovery now in progress,” said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati during the rolling out of the Energy Transition Mechanism Country Platform in Bali on Nov. 14.

In the energy transition sector, President Jokowi revealed a commitment of $20 billion from the new Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) to be extended to Indonesia.

“At least 30 percent of the world’s land and 30 percent of the world’s oceans will be protected by the world in 2030. I think this is very good. The G20 countries will also continue to reduce land degradation by up to 50 percent until 2040,” he said.

The commitment was announced at the side event on the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) during the G20 Summit of Leaders on Nov. 15.

According to a press statement, Indonesia, the US and the EU reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening global partnerships for high-standard investments in sustainable, transparent and quality infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries.

In line with the G20 theme for 2022, “Recover Together, Recover Stronger,” the event highlighted ways in which G20 members are investing together and investing more strongly to meet the critical challenges that the world faces today

During the event, the ground-breaking new JETP was launched, with President Jokowi co-led by the US and Japan on behalf of the Group of Seven and the International Partnership Group (IPG), including Canada, Denmark, the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom.

This long-term partnership will accelerate Indonesia’s just power sector transition, consistent with keeping the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming limit within reach, backed by $20 billion in support from public and private sources.

“Indonesia is proud to help mobilize the game-changing global goal to catalyze $600 billion in infrastructure investment by 2027,” Jokowi said.

Indonesia’s G20 Presidency also produced a list of concrete cooperation programs to be implemented by the G20 members and invited countries.

“These collaboration projects will help bring the works of the G20 closer to the people, ensuring the G20 benefits not only its members, but also developing countries,” said Jokowi.

The success of hosting the G20 Summit of Leaders, which ensured political stability and security, has strongly confirmed that Indonesia is an investment-friendly destination. Indonesia’s conducive investment climate is also bolstered by its ease of doing business thanks partly to the government’s relentless efforts to carry out bureaucratic reform and simplifying business license procedures.

Indonesia is a big country blessed with rich natural resources, which means providing investors and business players with easy access to raw materials for business production.

So, in the spirit of “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”, it is time to invest and do business in natural resources-rich country, Indonesia

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