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The G20 summit overshadowed by trade wars

The G20 summit this year is going to be held in Japan. The main themes of the summit are global economy, trade and investment, innovation, environment and energy, employment, women’s empowerment, development and health. Meetings continued at various levels on these main topics throughout the year, and finally reached the leaders summit. The summit will be taking place on June 28-29 in Osaka.

WHAT IS THIS G20?

It is clear there is quite a bit of information lacking with respect to what the G20 is. As a matter of fact, there is an extremely well-known but widespread misconception that G20 countries are chosen in accordance with their gross national product (GDP) ranking and that they are the top 20 ranking countries. As a matter of fact, on one occasion, I had even come across an article by an academic economist stating that the G20 Antalya Summit would be cancelled if Turkey was no longer in the top 20 due to its growth figures.

So, what is this G20? We are talking about a structure called the group of 20, consisting of 19 states and the European Union. It is certainly not an international organization. In other words, it has no center or secretariat. The statements in the closing statement, which consists of topics discussed in meetings held once a year, are not binding. Every year one country assumes the term presidency, and throughout the year they host various meetings. The main themes are determined by the country that is term president .

The idea to establish the G20 came up on the agenda at a 1997 G7 summit in Cologne. The impact of the financial crisis in Asia back then was so strong that G7 countries adopted the idea of including other countries in the process as well. With this aim, the group consisting of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, France, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union was formed. As can be ascertained, just as there are countries on this list that do not rank in the top 20 in gdp, there are countries that are not on the list even though they are in the top 20.

If we were to express the importance of G20 in figures, we can say that the countries in the group are responsible for 85 percent of the world’s production, 66 percent of the world population, 75 percent of international trade, and 80 percent of global investment. The aim of the G20 is to solve the problems in these fields and increase global cooperation.

DREAMS AND REALITIES

Of course, though the aim behind the G20’s foundation, the main themes selected, and the memorandums written up following the summit may seem like solutions to problems, the truth is very different. For example, some of the main themes of this year’s summit in Japan are global economy, trade and investment. Well, what is the world’s current problem? Trade wars.

The protectionist measures that G20 countries have taken in the economy since the 2008 crisis is around 10,000, and the U.S. takes the lead with almost 2,000 protectionist measures. As a matter of fact, if we add to the equation the rise in the number of tariffs, the U.S.’s withdrawal from multilateral deals, and the sanctions decisions taken against other countries with the Donald Trump administration, the urgency of the situation further rises. What is more, the number of new protectionist measures taken by countries has doubled since the leaders’ summit last year. The cost of the protectionist measures taken by G20 countries on global trade is more than $1 trillion.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

As can be seen, the G20 is not a solution mechanism, but a group consisting of rituals. In order for this group to be functional, the secretariat suggested by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Antalya Summit needs to be established, with a G20 constitution drawn up, containing the enforcements necessary to follow up on the matters over which a consensus is reached in the memorandum. This is an inevitable condition in terms of both the topics discussed at the meeting having any significance, and the realization of the matters over which consensus is reached. Otherwise, leaders will make adorable statements at the summit, then continue with their own ways when they return to their countries.

#G-20
#Erdoğan
#world leaders
#summit
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The G20 summit overshadowed by trade wars
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