EDITORIAL: Broaching G20 divisions

In the past, one of the marks of a successful Group of 20 (G20) presidency was whether it managed to broker consensus between all the member countries on a communique that could be issued by G20 leaders at the end of the year, and by the ministerial meetings during the year.

But SA’s presidency this year is a particularly tough one. The divides of recent years over Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza pale compared to the fractious world of US President Donald Trump and the divides and uncertainties that it introduces to multilateral forums such as the G20.

The first high-level ministerial meetings of SA’s G20 year have begun, with foreign ministers over the weekend and the Finance Track (finance ministers and central bank governors) this week. SA must avoid being distracted by the Trump circus and focus on hosting a well-run, well-chaired G20 year.

It will need to show maturity and statecraft even to get consensus on the chair’s summaries, which are the less demanding alternatives to the communiques. That’s particularly important for the Finance Track, which is the hard edge of the G20, tackling concrete issues such as global financial stability and regulation, cross-border payments and debt sustainability.

The G20 started life in the emerging markets crisis of the late 1990s to bring the world’s most important economies together to stabilise markets; it was upgraded in the 2008 global financial crisis to restore and maintain global financial stability and economic growth. That work is as important as ever in an uncertain world.