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G20 still relevant but G7 should be ‘open to change’
While Indonesia’s Group of 20 presidency has come and gone, experts insist the forum still has merit – if only the Group of Seven is willing to back a more equitable world order.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (center) speaks during the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali on Nov. 15. Analysts suggest that the forum and its Group of Seven clique remain important as multilateral tools for addressing the world’s biggest challenges. (AFP/Dita Alangkara)
After the dust has settled on Indonesia’s turbulent yet successful Group of 20 presidency this year, analysts suggest that the global economic forum and its influential Group of Seven clique remain important as multilateral tools for addressing the world’s biggest challenges.
However, future progress would be contingent on whether the G7 is open to change, listens to the concerns of other G20 member states and is willing to regain their trust.
The Ukraine conflict, which started with Russia’s invasion in February, dominated the two-day G20 Summit in Bali last month, to the frustration of members that wanted more attention on global economic woes.
But the forum had managed to push out a much-awaited joint communiqué and several other negotiated texts that are expected to inform the world on how to emerge from a crippling global economic downturn, despite concerns the war had resulted in an irreconcilable split within the G20.
Some observers called it a “success on all accounts”, while others tempered their expectations and pointed to the fact that the convening of world leaders on the Island of the Gods was in itself a feat amid global uncertainties.
Isabel Weininger, a senior policy advisor on Southeast Asia from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) German think tank, pointed to Indonesia’s convening power as proof that “diplomacy still works” given the circumstances.
She noted that the G20 and the G7, which Indonesia and Germany chaired this year, respectively, used different but complementary approaches in diplomacy, which ultimately led to the success of this year’s G20 proceedings.
