The T20 summit assembled 1000 researchers from 68 countries during the past two days in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to present policy recommendations on issues such as future of work, climate action, trade and social inclusion. A joint communique was handed over to G20 Chair and Argentinean President Mauricio Macri that called for more engagement to overcome the challenges faced by multilateral cooperation in all these areas.
What might become of Latin America’s presence in the G20 following Argentina’s presidency? If previous attempts to forge a common platform for Argentina, Brazil and Mexico have not left a lasting memory, perhaps this time around it looks different? Indeed, the Sherpas decided to tighten dialogue since fall 2017 with the view to “translate different regional outlooks into a representative stance” that hopefully could spill over onto the next G20 presidency.
The rising living standards that have come with China’s opening in the 1980s initially lent widespread support to the view of trade as a key engine of economic growth, North and South. For low- and middle-income countries, the rise of China has been shown to be a boon during the 2000s. As a result, the impact of China on both the low- and middle-income countries has grown significantly, while the impact of OECD countries has significantly declined.
From 25 to 27 July, South Africa organised the tenth BRICS summit. The heads of state and government from Brazil, Russia, India, China and the host country convened in Johannesburg against the backdrop of rising insecurity and fragmentation in the global system.
The future of globalization will decisively depend on the future of international political cooperation. The G20 is one of the most important, but also one of the most criticized fora for the cooperation between the economically most powerful states. It is thus of upmost importance that it becomes more accountable to the public. We argue here that the most feasible and least intrusive step forward with regard to the G20’s accountability would be to take measures to increase its transparency.
