Current Affairs 2022: Highlights of G20 Summit 2021

By Deepthi

G-20 group is one of the most important international groups having international ramifications. Read further the highlights of the G-20 Summit, 2021, organised in Rome, Italy.

G20 is nothing but a group of Twenty Economies. G20 is an Intergovernmental & multilateral forum composed of 19 countries and the European Union (EU). G20 consists of almost all of the largest economies, which includes industrialized countries and also developing nations.  G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. The main focus of the G20 is the governance of the global economy. The founder of G20 was Group of Seven. Present chairman of G20 Mario Draghi. The headquarters of G20 was located in Cancun, Mexico. And G20’s type is Trade bloc.

G20 was formed on 26th September 1999. It was formed due to multiple world economic crises. At that movement, G7 Finance Ministers announced the creation of a Group of 20.  In the year 2008, the first G-20 Summit took place in Washington DC. In 2008 George W. Bush invited the leaders of G20 members to take action. Since 2008, it had assembled at the minimum of once a year, with summits including each member of, head of government or head of state, finance minister, foreign minister and other high-ranking officials, the European Union is represented by the European Commission and the European Central Bank and other countries, international organizations and also nongovernmental organizations are solicited to attend the summits. In the 2009 summit, G20 declared itself as the primary venue for international economic and foreign cooperation.

The main purpose of this G20 is to bring together selectively important industrialized and developing economies to talk through key issues in the global economies. G20 Membership countries are 1.Argentina, 2.Australia, 3.Brazil, 4.Canada, 5.China, 6.France, 7. Germany, 8.India, 9. Indonesia, 10.Italy, 11.Japan, 12.South Korea, 13.Mexico, 14.Russia, 15.Saudi Arabia, 16. South Africa, 17.Turkey, 18.The United States, 19.United Kingdoms & 20.European Union. India is a member of the G20 since it was established as Finance Minister Forum in 1999. This G20 has no permanent secretariat or staff, the G20 group’s chairman rotates annually among the member countries. 

The objective of the G-20 summit was to discuss policy about the promotion of the International Financial Stability & economy of the world.

The Global Impact of the G-20 summit is categorized as

• Global Economic Output-85%
• World Population-66%
• International Trade-75%
• Global Investment-80%

Organizations play a crucial role in Annual International G-20 Conferences. The main organizations of G-20 Conferences are mentioned below:

1. United Nations
2. World Bank
3. International Labour Organization
4. Organization for Economic Corporation and Development
5. World Health Organization.
6. International Monetary Fund
7. World Trade Organization.
8. Financial Stability Board.
9. Asian Development Bank.

As we are all aware that the first summit was held in National Building Museum, Washington, DC on November 14-15, 2008 in response to the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Below mentioned is the list of summits along with their venues(Country & Hoist City), which were held before and also going to hoist upcoming as follows:

1. April 1-2, 2009 – (London Summit) Excel London, United Kingdom
2. September 24-25, 2009 - (Pittsburg Summit) David L. Lawrence Convention Centre United States
3. June 26-27, 2010 - (Toronto Summit) Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Canada
4. November 11-12, 2010 - (Seoul Summit) CODEX Convention & Exhibition Centre, Republic of Korea
5. November 3-4, 2011-(Cannes Summit) Palais des Festival, France
6. June 18-19, 2012 - (Los Cabos Summit) Los Cabos Convention Center, San Jose del Cabo,  Mexico
7. September 5-6, 2013 - (Petersburg Summit) Constantine Palace, Russia
8. November 15-16, 2014 - (Brisbane summit) Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Australia
9. November 15-16, 2015-(Antalya summit), Regnum Carya Hotel Convention Centre, Turkey
10. September 4-5, 2016-(Hangzhou Summit), Hangzhou International Exhibition Centre, China
11. July 7-8, 2017 – (Hamburg Summit), Hamburg Messe, Germany
12. November 30-Decmber 1, 2018-(Buenos Aires summit), Costa Salgureo Centre, Argentina
13. June 28-29, 2019-(Osaka Summit) Intex Osaka, Japan
14. November 21-22, 2020 – (Riyadh summit) King Abdullah Financial District, Saudi Arabia
15. October 30-31, 2021- (Rome Summit) EUR New Convention Centre, Italy
16. October 30-31, 2022 – (Bali Summit) Bali Nusa Dua Convention Centre, Indonesia
17. 2023-(New Delhi Summit) India International Convention and Expo Centre, (India)

To date, 16 meetings of  G-20 Summits were completed successfully. 

Introduction to G20 Summit 2021

Now talking about the 16th meeting of the G-20 Summit.  The G-20 conference 2021 was organized in Rome, Italy in October 2021 which was held physically on October 30,31 under the Italian Presidency. 

This Italian Presidency mainly concentrated on three-wide areas which are considered as interconnected pillars of measures. They are People, Planet & Prosperity. And we can say the main motto of the 16th G-20 summit was People, Planet and Prosperity. Rome was the 16th city hoisted the G-20 summit at the leader’s level. The event took place at La Nuvola Convention Center, located in the EUR district.

The agenda is packed with working sessions and also devoted to several topics at the centre of international debate. The host Leader of this 16th G-20 summit was Giuseppe Conte. From our India Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the 16th meeting of the G-20 Summit.

Highlights of G20 Summit 2021

Concentrated on People, Planet & Prosperity.

Objectives:

The main objective of the Group of Twenty Countries, which tried to bring more than three-quarters of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, had been looking for common ground and solid commitment on how to lower the emissions while helping the poor countries and also deal with the impact of increasing temperatures.

Agenda of G20 Summit 2021

The main agenda of this summit was to deliberate about three main working sessions and two leader’s side events. They are

Leader’s Side Events:

• Side event on Supporting SMEs and Women-owned businesses to build forward better.
• Side event on the role of the Private Sector in the fight against Climate change.

Working Sessions:

• Global Economy and Global Health.
• Climate Change and Environment.
• Sustainable Development.

Outcomes of G20 Summit 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also other 19 leaders of the G-20 summit have promised to take an initial step which was related to World Health Organization shall be reinforced to quicken the procedure for emergency use to grant for COVID-19 vaccines.

• Fight against COVID-19 is India’s main contribution. We can say it is one of the best highlights in the G-20 summit from India.
• India’s PM Narendra Modi explained India's vision of  'One Earth, One Health' which is an important teamwork approach in the destroying of COVID-19.
• Apart from that, G-20 summit leaders embraced the Rome explaining about health section, in this also leaders agreed that covid immunization is necessary and it is a global property of people.
• G-20 leaders committed to Paris Agreement. According to the Paris Agreement, the G-20 leaders decided to maintain a global average temperature of 2 degrees Celsius and 1.5 degrees Celsius in pre-industrial levels.
• Leaders of this G-20 summit pledged to get as far as a target of net-zero carbon emissions by or around mid-century.
• Also acceded to end funding new dirty coal plants abroad by the end of the year 2021.
• All the leaders of the G-20, deciding on vaccination with the help of the World Health Organisation under a policy of “One Health Approach” for the whole world.
• Also noticed to provide crucial technology and finances for vaccine production at mRNA Hubs in South Africa, Brazil and Argentina.
• Along with these, also committed to mobilising $100 billion for developing countries for climate adaptation costs.

Moreover, approved on an agreement that will subject the multinationals to a minimum of 15 per cent tax.

India’s role in G20 Summit 2021:

• Supporting for Global Minimum Tax
• Welcoming Indo-Pacific Strategy
• Addressing Vaccine Inequality
• One Earth One Health policy
• Resilient Global Supply Chains

About the Author