The global economy has been struggling for some time with surplus resources in search of a destination for optimum returns. The German G20 Presidency tried to address this issue with enhanced focus on strengthening cooperation with Africa. What are the policy choices for India?
African leaders welcomed the Attention at this G20 Summit and praised Germany for the “new partnerships”. In concrete terms though, what results from this effort are the announcements of funding of less than $ 500 million. Time has come for the continent to position itself as part of the solution rather than part of the problems to address. Instead of being too distracted by others‘ plans, it’s time to have a plan for how the continent deals with them, G20 included.
At its creation the G20 was meant to facilitate coordination, cooperation and problem-solving among key actors in a specific policy field, which then was global financial stability. The G20 was not meant to be a jack-of-all-trades, offering welcoming words and restating support for long-accepted and previously reconfirmed goals, as most subsequent G20 summits did.
At first glance, the communiqué of the G20’s Hamburg Summit is an ordinary piece of international diplomacy. However, as is often the case, context is key to assess its real importance. Two context factors defined this year’s negotiations of G20 leaders in the exhibition halls in the city center of Hamburg. Within the negotiation room, an unruly US president questioned a number of common positions that had already been adopted by the G20 in previous years.
On 16-17 February 2017 the foreign ministers of the G20 countries gathered in Bonn, Germany’s United Nations city. This was the second ever meeting of foreign ministers under the G20 umbrella, which brings together 19 of the world’s largest economies, plus the European Union. The discussion among the G20 foreign ministers officially centered around issues of a long-term nature such as the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris climate agreement, crisis prevention and resolution, and opportunities for deepening the G20’s relationship with African economies.
