G20: Overshadowed by geopolitical rivalries

The just-concluded G20 summit at Bali will be remembered more for the geopolitics that overshadowed its proceedings rather than for its outcomes.

Members, especially the Western countries, were preoccupied with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This stood in the way of the summit moving forward robustly to deal with the grouping’s primary agenda of addressing global economic issues.

At a time when the global economy is reeling under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Europe, the G20 should have stepped forward to make substantial announcements to address food and energy security and deal with the climate emergency. It fell short on these counts. On food security, for instance, the Bali Declaration was rich in rhetoric, expressing concern over global hunger, committing to “facilitate humanitarian supplies” and reaffirming support for existing efforts.

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But it offered neither new funding nor even expressions of support to shift to local and sustainable food production to address hunger. At a time when countries are struggling with mounting debts and cutting back on spending on public goods, the world was hoping that the G20 would put additional debt-free finance on the table to fund public health and education. That did not happen.

The G20’s biggest achievement was that it produced a joint statement. It was not expected to do so as working group meetings that preceded the summit had failed to produce a communiqué. The summit surmounted formidable challenges to produce a consensus document. It must be noted, however, that it was not all G20 members but “most members” who strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and held it responsible for “exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy.” Thus, the summit papered over the cracks to produce a consensus document.

The Bali summit became yet another example of superpower geopolitical rivalries hijacking the agenda and working of multi-lateral organisations. Like the UNSC, whose functioning has been paralysed by its veto-wielding members’ geopolitics for decades, the working of global economic forums is being held hostage to the rivalries and agendas of powerful countries.

At Bali, host and outgoing G20 chair Indonesia handed over the baton to India, which will assume its presidency on December 1. As India prepares to take charge, it should draw lessons from the challenges Indonesia faced in keeping the world’s focus on economic issues. Unless the war ends, India’s plans to shape the global economy in the coming year will be undermined. It underscores the need for India to step up its contribution to ending the war if it wants its G20 presidency to be effective. The US-China tension, too, cast a shadow over the Bali meeting. India must ensure that bilateral baggage doesn’t creep into the G20’s economic agenda and functioning.