A New Global Vision for G20
For Prelims
About G20:
- The G20 is a strategic multilateral platform connecting the world’s major developed and emerging economies.
- It was started in 1999 as a meeting for the finance minister and central bank governors, which later evolved into a yearly summit involving the Head of State and Government.
- This forum was formed as an effort to find a solution to the global economic conditions hit by the global financial crisis in 1997-1999 by involving middle-income countries and having systemic economic influence.
Members of G20
- G20 consists of 19 countries viz, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
For Mains
The role of G20 in current world
- Multilateral commitments on aid and trade are faltering. This is because the role of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization in securing cooperation between donor and recipient country groups is losing centrality.
- The world has become divided into three socio-economic systems — the G7, China-Russia, and India and the others — and they will jointly set the global agenda. Hence G20 being a platform which holds all the major powers, needs to create a system of consensus.
- Uncertainty caused by the Ukraine conflict, the expanding influence of the trade and value chains dominated by the U.S. and China, and the reluctance of developing countries to take sides in the strategic competition as they have a real choice requires fresh thinking on the nature and form of collaboration from the G20.
- G20 accounts for 95% of the world’s patents, 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade and 65% of the world population, hence it needs to go through a reorientation to prevent a clash of ideas to the detriment of the global good.
What India needs to focus on
- The presumed equality that we are all in the same boat, recognised in the case of climate change, needs to be expanded to other areas with a global impact redefining ‘common concerns.’ We must begin by building on the global consensus in the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights 1993 reaffirming the indivisibility of all human rights. There is a growing recognition of economic and social rights — for example, in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- The global agenda has been tilted towards investment, whereas science and technology are the driving force for economic diversification, sustainably urbanising the world etc as the answer to both human well-being and global climate change. Innovation supports dematerialising production and consumption and moving towards renewable sources of energy.
- Harnessing the potential of the digital-information-technology revolution requires redefining digital access as a “universal service” that goes beyond physical connectivity to sharing specific opportunities as well. To reap the fruits of the new set of network technologies, open access software should be offered for more cost-effective service delivery options, good governance and sustainable development.
- Space is the next frontier for finding solutions to problems of natural resource management ranging from climate change-related natural disasters, supporting agricultural innovation to urban and infrastructure planning. Open access to geospatial data, data products and services and lower costs of geospatial information technology facilities do not require huge financial resources.
Public health has to learn from the COVID-19 fiasco with infectious diseases representing a market failure. A major global challenge is the rapidly growing antimicrobial resistance which needs new antibiotics and collaboration between existing biotechnology facilities.
Source: THE HINDU
