Dominating our smartphone screens, televisions, and front pages were photos of Justin Trudeau, Xi Jinping, Joe Biden, and Giorgia Meloni in traditional Indonesian attire, participating in a ceremonial mangrove tree planting event and gathering late night to discuss the missiles that killed two Poles, contemplating potential next steps using NATO’s Article 4. These leaders are – whether they want to be or not – celebrities. They are simultaneously praised and critiqued depending on who is watching them. Yet, what is not seen by mainstream audiences, perhaps even those more politically astute, is the intricate machine of behind-the-scenes work taking place throughout 257 meetings between December 2021 and December 2022 under Indonesia’s presidency of the G20 Summit.
In 2011, the Director of the Global Summitry Project, Alan Alexandroff, wrote about the notion of the G20 not being solely about its leaders, but rather surrounding the Leaders’ Summit an array of complementary “personal representatives, ministers, other officials, IFIs, IOs, [and] global regulators that make the G[20] system work – or not”. Whether the G20 is successful (a subjective term, in any case), is a different conversation.
Alexandroff’s Iceberg Theory of Global Governance positions the G20 Leaders’ Summit at its tip, but the vast bulk of the iceberg is situated below the surface, and often goes unnoticed by the majority of observers and experts.
This underwater all-encompassing mass is formed by numerous assemblies: from Ministerial meetings regarding health, environment and climate, women’s empowerment, trade investment and industry, the energy transition, development, labor, research and innovation, and tourism; to Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor meetings, Finance-Health Deputies meetings, joint Sherpa and Finance Deputies meetings, individual Sherpa meetings, Foreign Ministers meetings, G20 Digital Ministers meetings, and Education Ministers meetings; and lastly, engagement group gatherings (including the U20, B20 on climate/energy, integrity, compliance, and business leaders; the T20, with numerous recommendations from think tanks around the world, the Y20, with priority areas on digital transformation and youth empowerment, and the L20 Employment Summit).
It would be hard to contest that the G20 indeed has been a platform that has developed and advanced key collaborative actions toward policies and priorities, from the Leader Declaration identifying the Pandemic Fund, the Financial Intermediary Funds for Pandemic Prevention, which employs the World Bank and World Health Organization.
The incoming G20 Troika – Indonesia, India and Brazil – will mark a unique shift in global governance deliberations. It will be led by three Global South countries with emerging large market economies hosting the year-long activities. The hosting will pass from India in 2023, Brazil in 2024, and South Africa in 2025.
We anticipate this three-year spread of Global South presidencies will tackle issues that have been brushed to the side or missed in other G20 Summits. This is certainly a significant step in the effort to construct a multilateral network to seek mutually beneficial responses to growing challenges impacting all countries.
The Financial Times released an article following Indonesia’s Leaders’ Summit, deeming its outcomes “remarkable”. Russia, represented by its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, seemed isolated on the world stage as China put forth a more neutral stance in its support towards Moscow. Xi commented that his administration “resolutely opposes attempt[s] to politicize food and energy issues or use them as tools and weapons”.
To further emphasize the momentum that Global South are gaining in the current global governance actions diplomats at this year’s Summit stressed that it was the BRICS countries (minus Russia, plus Indonesia) that ended up contributing “the crucial swing votes…[to decide] that a joint statement featuring language critical of the war was preferable to no statement at all”, marking this arguably the first G20 Summit “where developing nations shaped the outcome”. It is worth noting that the joint statement did not contain any tangible steps to put a halt in the war in Ukraine, or heighten pressure on Russia, but a senior EU official offered: “think of it this way: imagine what it would look like if we had left here with no agreement. Everyone demonstrated a willingness to engage”.
India plans to follow in Indonesia’s footsteps and host over two hundred G20 meetings. High ministerial meetings are set to take place in thirteen different cities, alongside fifty-seven working group meetings and forty-six engagement groups meetings. India plans to invite Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE as guest countries. Additional guests will include the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
The G20, a platform “deploying pluralism as an alternative to bipolar polemics” is seeking to widen the range of voices represented in the efforts to collaborate on critical global governance issues. The aforementioned willingness to engage suggests further progress is on the horizon. It adds fresh views and solutions to existing challenges. For example, India has already nudged the Jakarta-based Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) to establish a four-year G20 research forum focused on development. India hopes to concentrate efforts on issues of debt and debt relief, food and energy security, and stability and security particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.
The G20 continues its attempts to push for change, uncover shared values, and sculpt common stances on complex issues. Just last year, India joined in the G20’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2070. This occurred at a time when India and South Africa led in soliciting the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily suspend IP rules, treatments, copyright, industrial design, and protection of undisclosed information related to COVID-19 vaccines. This initiative is an illustration of what high-level cooperation can achieve if spearheaded and supported by all countries, emerging market and advanced economy countries.
So, while the international media reported on the celebrity leaders walking down the red carpet towards the Summit’s gala dinner, the supporting cast of ministers and a host of other officials, who worked intensely behind the curtains over the past twelve months making sure the pinnacle Summit was ready to face center stage, looked on with the rest of the world.
Historically, have groundbreaking treaties and laws been the fruits of the G20’s labor? Certainly not. However, the goal of this year’s gatherings in Indonesia was much more about reinforcing solidarity and smoothening geopolitical tensions in the face of global pandemic recovery and war. It has to be considered a victory and an advance in global governance.
By Guest Bloggers Nicoletta Zibin a Research Analyst at the Global Summitry Project (GSP) and the Secretary General at Stand Up for Europe and,
Husnah Mad-hy also a Research Analyst at GSP and a High Risk Client Management Analyst at RBC
Image Credit: East Asia Forum