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Stiglitz, Sachs ask G20 host Indonesia to end global 'zero sum game'
Economists Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs say that, as a country that is 'friends with everybody', Indonesia could prevent geopolitical rivalry from getting in the way of cooperation on climate change and COVID-19.
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Bank Mandiri president commissioner Chatib Basri (right) gives a presentation with Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz (center) and Columbia University professor Jeffrey D. Sachs at the 2022 Mandiri Investment Forum in Jakarta on Wednesday (9/2/2022). (ANTARA /Muhammad Adimaja)
Renowned economists Jeffrey Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz see Indonesia’s Group of 20 leadership as a chance for global cooperation to confront existential threats.
With the world facing a double crisis of climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, major powers must overcome their differences for the common good, the two economists have urged at an investment forum hosted by state-owned Bank Mandiri on Wednesday.
“Thank God Indonesia is hosting the G20 […] because Indonesia is friends with all sides,” said Sachs, professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.
He urged Indonesia to “please say to all parties coming to the G20, to China, to the United States, to Europe, to Russia, ‘Be nice with each other!’ You know, the rest of the world suffers if the US and China are bickering or battling with each other.”
The problems the world faced could not be solved by countries acting alone, stressed the economist.
“So, I hope that the G20 is really about cooperation. The second thing is that the G20 really needs to be about fairness in the world,” added the author of The End of Poverty, expressing his hope for Indonesia to “represent all of the developing world".
Indonesia began its year-long presidency of the G20 in December 2021. Event organizers expect some 18,000 delegates to attend more than 150 meetings in 19 cities, but the biggest event – the summit – will be held in Bali.
