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G20 to the rescue?
Founded in 1999, in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, members of the grouping, the world's largest economies, have used the forum to coordinate policies and steps taken to maintain global economic and financial stability.
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The Group of 20 (G20) has always been about the global economy. Founded in 1999, in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, members of the grouping, the world's largest economies, have used the forum to coordinate policies and steps taken to maintain global economic and financial stability.
But as always, politics always stands in the way. After all, it is pointless to talk about economics without taking into account politics.
In 2008, when for the first time leaders of the G20 members turned up for its first annual summit, politics begun to take center stage.
And quickly thereafter politics frequently overshadowed economics completely. The 2014 summit in Antalya, Turkey, considered by many to be the low point in G20 history, was one of the moments when politics--the issue being the conflict in Syria and Iraq--sucked all oxygen from the room and left little room for country members to make headway on the economy.
There have also been moments of hope at G20 summits. The 2018 summit in Argentina, saw then United States president Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping making their announcement to formally accede to the Paris Climate Agreement.
We should also look back to last year when G20 leaders pledged to help vaccinate 70 percent of the world’s population by mid-2022.
And even during some of the darkest moments in history, the G20 could still offer hope. Also in Antalya in 2017, Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to meet to discuss coordinated efforts in the fight against ISIS in Syria.
This year's G20 Summit in Bali, which will move up a gear today with the foreign ministers meeting, will be a key test for the grouping, whether it can offer a glimmer of hope in another dark moment in the world's history.
It is now almost certain that the conflict in Ukraine will have wide-ranging repercussions beyond what the architect of the war had ever imagined.
We are now talking about the widening chasm between Russia and the West, millions of people going hungry due to disruption to the cereal supply and the prospect of a deep economic downturn in the years to come.
Already, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has issued a statement that he will not seek a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Earlier, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that a meeting with Lavrov would certainly be off the table.
And it is against this backdrop, that Indonesia must steel its resolve in navigating the murky waters of global politics and make the effort to bring everyone to the G20 table.
President Joko "Jokowi' Widodo's trip to the Group of Seven (G7) summit and his subsequent “peace mission” to Kyiv and Moscow has shown the world that Indonesia means business in trying to bring about a resolution to the Ukraine war. And the goodwill that President Jokowi showed has been reciprocated by many leaders.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have urged other G7 countries not to boycott the Bali summit.
And given the high stakes, members cannot afford to withdraw from the G20 meetings and the leaders summit in November.
