G-20 major economies

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Group of Twenty
G20.svg
  Member countries in the G-20
  Members of the European Union not individually represented
  2015 summit guest nations
Abbreviation G-20 or G20
Formation 1999
2008 (Heads of State/Heads of Government Summits)
Purpose Bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.[1]
Membership
Chairman
China Xi Jinping (2016)
Staff
None[2]
Website g20.org

The Group of Twenty (also known as the G-20 or G20) is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. It was founded in 1999 with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.[3] It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization.[3] The G-20 heads of government or heads of state have periodically conferred at summits since their initial meeting in 2008, and the group also hosts separate meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors.

The members include 19 individual countries—Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States—along with the European Union (EU). The EU is represented by the European Commission and by the European Central Bank. Collectively, the G-20 economies account for around 85% of the gross world product (GWP), 80% of world trade (or, if excluding EU intra-trade, 75%), and two-thirds of the world population.[2]

With the G-20 growing in stature [4] after its inaugural leaders' summit in 2008, its leaders announced on 25 September 2009 that the group would replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations.[5] Since its inception, the G-20's membership policies have been criticized by numerous intellectuals,[6][7] and its summits have been a focus for major protests by anti-globalists, nationalists and others.[8]

The heads of the G-20 nations met semi-annually at G-20 summits between 2009 and 2010. Since the November 2011 Cannes summit, all G-20 summits have been held annually.[2]

History

A group photo of the participants of the 2008 G-20 Washington summit.

The G-20 is the latest in a series of post-World War II initiatives aimed at international coordination of economic policy, which include institutions such as the "Bretton Woods twins", the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and what is now the World Trade Organization.[9] The G-20 superseded the G33 (which had itself superseded the G22), and was foreshadowed at the Cologne Summit of the G7 in June 1999, but was only formally established at the G7 Finance Ministers' meeting on 26 September 1999. The inaugural meeting took place on 15–16 December 1999 in Berlin. Canadian finance minister Paul Martin was chosen to be the first chairman and German finance minister Hans Eichel hosted the inaugural meeting.[10]

According to researchers at the Brookings Institution, the group was founded primarily at the initiative of Eichel, who was also concurrently chair of the G7. However, some sources identify the G-20 as a joint creation of Germany and the United States.[11][12] According to University of Toronto political science professor John Kirton, the membership of the G-20 was decided by Eichel's deputy Caio Koch-Weser and then US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers' deputy Timothy Geithner. In Kirton's book G20 Governance for a Globalised World, he claims that:

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"Geithner and Koch-Weser went down the list of countries saying, Canada in, Spain out, South Africa in, Nigeria and Egypt out, and so on; they sent their list to the other G7 finance ministries; and the invitations to the first meeting went out."[13]

Though the G-20's primary focus is global economic governance, the themes of its summits vary from year to year. For example, the theme of the 2006 G-20 ministerial meeting was "Building and Sustaining Prosperity". The issues discussed included domestic reforms to achieve "sustained growth", global energy and resource commodity markets, reform of the World Bank and IMF, and the impact of demographic changes due to an aging world population. Trevor A. Manuel, the South African Minister of Finance, was the chairperson of the G-20 when South Africa hosted the Secretariat in 2007. Guido Mantega, Brazil's Minister of Finance, was the chairperson of the G-20 in 2008; Brazil proposed dialogue on competition in financial markets, clean energy and economic development and fiscal elements of growth and development. In a statement following a meeting of G7 finance ministers on 11 October 2008, US President George W. Bush stated that the next meeting of the G-20 would be important in finding solutions to the burgeoning economic crisis of 2008. An initiative by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown led to a special meeting of the G-20, a G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy, on 15 November 2008.[14] Spain and the Netherlands were included in the summit by French invitation.

Despite lacking any formal ability to enforce rules, the G-20's prominent membership gives it a strong input on global policy. However, there remain disputes over the legitimacy of the G-20,[15] and criticisms of its organisation and the efficacy of its declarations.[16]

Summits

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Summit was created as a response both to the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and to a growing recognition that key emerging countries were not adequately included in the core of global economic discussion and governance. The G-20 Summits of heads of state or government were held in addition to the G-20 Meetings of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, who continued to meet to prepare the leaders' summit and implement their decisions. After the 2008 debut summit in Washington, D.C., G-20 leaders met twice a year in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, Toronto and Seoul in 2010.[17]

Since 2011, when France chaired and hosted the G-20, the summits have been held only once a year.[18] The most recent summit was held in Turkey in 2015,[19] and the next summit will be held in China in 2016.[20]

A number of other ministerial-level G20 meetings have been held since 2010. Agriculture ministerial meetings were conducted in 2011 and 2012; meetings of foreign ministers were held in 2012 and 2013; trade ministers met in 2012 and 2014 and employment ministerial meetings have taken place annually since 2010.[21]

In March 2014, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, as host of the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane, proposed to ban Russia from the summit over its role in the 2014 Crimean crisis.[22] The BRICS foreign ministers subsequently released a communiqué reminding Bishop that "the custodianship of the G20 belongs to all Member States equally and no one Member State can unilaterally determine its nature and character.".[23] The 2018 presidency will be announced in the 2016 Summit in Hangzhou.

Date Host country Host city Venue Host leader Ref Website
1st[24] 14–15 November 2008  United States Washington, D.C. National Building Museum George W. Bush [24]
2nd[24] 2 April 2009  United Kingdom London ExCeL London Gordon Brown [24] [2]
3rd[24] 24–25 September 2009  United States Pittsburgh David L. Lawrence Convention Center Barack Obama [24] [3]
4th[25] 26–27 June 2010  Canada Toronto Metro Toronto Convention Centre Stephen Harper [25][26]
5th[27] 11–12 November 2010  South Korea Seoul COEX Convention & Exhibition Center Lee Myung-bak [28] [4]
6th[29] 3–4 November 2011[30]  France Cannes Palais des Festivals Nicolas Sarkozy [31] [5]
7th[32] 18–19 June 2012[33]  Mexico San José del Cabo, Los Cabos Los Cabos Convention Center[34] Felipe Calderón [35] [6]
8th[36] 5–6 September 2013  Russia Strelna, Saint Petersburg Constantine Palace Vladimir Putin [37][38] [7]
9th[36] 15–16 November 2014  Australia Brisbane Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre Tony Abbott [37][39] [8]
10th[36] 15–16 November 2015  Turkey Belek, Antalya Regnum Carya Hotel Convention Centre Recep Tayyip Erdoğan [37][40][41] [9]
11th 4–5 September 2016  China Hangzhou Xi Jinping [37][40][42] [10]
12th 2017  Germany Hamburg Angela Merkel [37][40]
13th 2018  India TBD Narendra Modi

Chair rotation

To decide which member nation gets to chair the G-20 leaders' meeting for a given year, all 19 sovereign nations are assigned to one of five different groupings. Each group holds a maximum of four nations. This system has been in place since 2010, when South Korea, which is in Group 5, held the G-20 chair. Australia, the host of the 2014 G-20 summit, is in Group 1. Turkey, which hosted the 2015 summit, is in Group 2. The table below lists the nations' groupings:[43]

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5
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Organization

The G-20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The group's chair rotates annually among the members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries. The chair is part of a revolving three-member management group of past, present and future chairs, referred to as the "Troika". The incumbent chair establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration of its term, which coordinates the group's work and organizes its meetings. The role of the Troika is to ensure continuity in the G-20's work and management across host years. The current chair of the G-20 is Turkey; the chair was handed over from Australia after the 2014 G-20 summit. Turkey hosted the 2015 summit in Antalya, while China will host the 2016 summit in Hangzhou.

Proposed permanent secretariat

In 2010, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy proposed the establishment of a permanent G-20 secretariat, similar to the United Nations. Seoul and Paris were suggested as possible locations for its headquarters.[44] Brazil and China supported the establishment of a secretariat, while Italy and Japan expressed opposition to the proposal.[44] South Korea proposed a "cyber secretariat" as an alternative.[44] It has been argued that the G-20 has been using the OECD as a secretariat.[45]

List of members

Currently, there are 20 members of the group. These include, at the leaders summits, the leaders of 19 countries and of the European Union, and, at the ministerial-level meetings, the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries and of the European Union. In addition each year, the G20’s guests include Spain; the Chair of ASEAN; two African countries (the chair of the African Union and a representative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development) and a country (sometimes more than one) invited by the presidency, usually from its own region.[2][46][47] The first of the tables below lists the member entities and their heads of government, finance ministers and central bank governors. The second table lists relevant statistics such as population and GDP figures for each member, as well as detailing memberships of other international organisations, such as the G7 and BRICS. Total GDP figures are given in millions of US dollars.

Leaders

Member Official title of head of government Head of government Official title of finance minister Finance minister Central bank governor
 Argentina President Mauricio Macri Minister of Economy and Public Finances Alfonso Prat-Gay Federico Sturzenegger
 Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Treasurer Scott Morrison Glenn Stevens
 Brazil Acting President Michel Temer Minister of Finance Henrique Meirelles Alexandre Tombini
 Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Minister of Finance Bill Morneau Stephen Poloz
 China President Xi Jinping Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei Zhou Xiaochuan
 France President François Hollande Minister of Finance Michel Sapin François Villeroy de Galhau
 Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble Jens Weidmann
 India Prime Minister Narendra Modi Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley Raghuram Rajan
 Indonesia President Joko Widodo Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro Agus Martowardojo
 Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi Minister of Economy and Finance Pier Carlo Padoan Ignazio Visco
 Japan Prime Minister Shinzō Abe Minister of Finance Tarō Asō Haruhiko Kuroda
 Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto Secretary of Finance Luis Videgaray Caso Agustín Carstens
 Russia President Vladimir Putin Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov Elvira Nabiullina
 Saudi Arabia King Salman Minister of Finance Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf Fahad Almubarak
 South Africa President Jacob Zuma Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan Lesetja Kganyago
 South Korea President Park Geun-hye Minister of Strategy and Finance Yoo- Il-ho Lee Ju-yeol
 Turkey Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım Minister of Finance Naci Ağbal Erdem Başçı
 United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne Mark Carney
 United States President Barack Obama Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew Janet Yellen
 European Union[48] President of the European Council Donald Tusk Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs,
Commissioner for Taxation and Customs
Pierre Moscovici Mario Draghi
President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker

Member country data

Member Trade mil. USD (2014) Nom. GDP mil. USD (2014)[49] PPP GDP mil. USD (2014)[49] Nom. GDP per capita USD (2014)[49] PPP GDP per capita USD (2014)[49] HDI (2015) Population (2014) Area P5 G4 G7 BRICS MIKTA DAC OECD C'wth Economic classification (IMF)[50]
 Argentina 142,370 543,061 951,001 12,735 22,302 0.836 42,961,000 2,780,400 Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Emerging
 Australia 496,700 1,442,722 1,099,771 61,066 46,550 0.935 23,599,000 7,692,024 Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Advanced
 Brazil 484,600 2,346,583 3,275,799 11,573 16,155 0.755 202,768,000 8,515,767 Red XN Green tickY Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Emerging
 Canada 947,200 1,785,387 1,595,975 50,304 44,967 0.913 35,467,000 9,984,670 Red XN Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Advanced
 China 4,201,000 10,356,508 18,088,054 7,572 13,224 0.727 1,367,520,000 9,572,900 Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Emerging
 France 1,212,300 2,833,687 2,591,170 44,332 40,538 0.888 63,951,000 640,679 Green tickY Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Red XN Advanced
 Germany 2,866,600 3,874,437 3,748,094 47,774 46,216 0.916 80,940,000 357,114 Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Red XN Advanced
 India 850,600 2,051,228 7,411,093 1,608 5,808 0.609 1,259,695,000 3,287,263 Red XN Green tickY Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Red XN Green tickY Emerging
 Indonesia 346,100 888,648 2,685,893 3,524 10,651 0.684 251,490,000 1,904,569 Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Red XN Emerging
 Italy 948,600 2,147,744 2,135,359 35,335 35,131 0.873 59,960,000 301,336 Red XN Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Red XN Advanced
 Japan 1,522,400 4,602,367 4,767,157 36,222 37,519 0.891 127,061,000 377,930 Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Red XN Advanced
 South Korea 1,170,900 1,410,383 1,783,950 27,970 35,379 0.898 50,437,000 100,210 Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Red XN Advanced
 Mexico 813,500 1,291,062 2,148,884 10,784 17,950 0.756 119,581,789 1,964,375 Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Green tickY Red XN Green tickY Red XN Emerging
 Russia 844,200 1,860,598 3,576,841 12,718 24,449 0.798 146,300,000 17,098,242 Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Emerging
 Saudi Arabia 521,600 746,248 1,609,628 24,252 52,311 0.837 30,624,000 2,149,690 Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Developing
 South Africa 200,100 350,082 707,097 6,483 13,094 0.666 53,699,000 1,221,037 Red XN Red XN Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Red XN Green tickY Emerging
 Turkey 417,000 798,332 1,514,859 10,381 19,698 0.761 77,324,000 783,562 Red XN Red XN Red XN Red XN Green tickY Red XN Green tickY Red XN Emerging
 United Kingdom 1,189,400 2,950,039 2,569,218 45,729 39,826 0.907 64,511,000 242,495 Green tickY Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Advanced
 United States 3,944,000 17,348,075 17,348,075 54,370 54,370 0.915 318,523,000 9,526,468 Green tickY Red XN Green tickY Red XN Red XN Green tickY Green tickY Red XN Advanced
 European Union 4,485,000 18,527,116 18,640,411 36,645 36,869 0.876 505,570,700 4,422,773 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

In addition to these 20 members, the chief executive officers of several other international forums and institutions participate in meetings of the G-20.[2] These include the managing director and Chairman of the International Monetary Fund, the President of the World Bank, the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the Chairman of the Development Assistance Committee.

The G-20's membership does not reflect exactly the 19 largest national economies of the world in any given year. The organization states:[1]

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In a forum such as the G-20, it is particularly important for the number of countries involved to be restricted and fixed to ensure the effectiveness and continuity of its activity. There are no formal criteria for G-20 membership and the composition of the group has remained unchanged since it was established. In view of the objectives of the G-20, it was considered important that countries and regions of systemic significance for the international financial system be included. Aspects such as geographical balance and population representation also played a major part.

All 19 member nations are among the top 33 economies as measured in GDP at nominal prices in a list published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2014.[51] Not represented by membership in the G-20 are Switzerland (ranked 20th by the IMF), Nigeria (21), Taiwan (26), Norway (27), the United Arab Emirates (29), Iran (30), Colombia (31), and Thailand (32), even though they rank higher than some members. The Netherlands (17), Sweden (22), Poland (23), Belgium (25), and Austria (28) are included only as part of the EU, and not independently. Spain (14) is a permanent guest member.

When the countries' GDP is measured at purchasing power parity (PPP) rates,[52] all 19 members are among the top 29 in the world for the year of 2014, according to the IMF. Iran (18), Taiwan (20), Nigeria (21), Thailand (22), Egypt (25), Pakistan (26), and Malaysia (28) are not G-20 members, while Spain (16), Poland (23) and the Netherlands (27) are only included in the EU slot. However, in a list of average GDP, calculated for the years since the group's creation (1999–2008) at both nominal and PPP rates, only Spain, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Taiwan, Iran and Thailand appear above any G-20 member in both lists simultaneously.

Spain, being the 14th largest economy in the world and 5th in the European Union in terms of nominal GDP, is a "permanent guest" of the organization, although the Spanish government's policy is to not request official membership.[53][54] As such, a Spanish delegation has been invited to, and has attended, every G-20 heads of state summit since the G-20's inception.

Role of Asian countries

A 2011 report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicted that large Asian economies such as China and India would play a more important role in global economic governance in the future. The report claimed that the rise of emerging market economies heralded a new world order, in which the G-20 would become the global economic steering committee.[55] The ADB furthermore noted that Asian countries had led the global recovery following the late-2000s recession. It predicted that the region would have a greater presence on the global stage, shaping the G-20's agenda for balanced and sustainable growth through strengthening intraregional trade and stimulating domestic demand.[55]

Invitees

Typically, several participants that are not permanent members of the G20 are extended invitations to participate in the summits. Each year, the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; the Chair of the African Union; the President of Vietnam and a representative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development are invited in their capacities as leaders of their organisations and as heads of government of their home states.[56] Additionally, the leaders of the Financial Stability Board, the International Labour Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization are invited and participate in pre-summit planning within the policy purview of their respective organisation.[57] Spain is a permanent non-member invitee.[56]

Other invitees are chosen by the host country, usually one or two countries from its own region.[56] For example, South Korea invited Singapore. International organisations which have been invited in the past include the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC), the European Central Bank (ECB), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Governance Group (3G) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Previously, the Netherlands had a similar status to Spain while the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union would also receive an invitation, but only in that capacity and not as their own state's leader (such as the Czech premiers Mirek Topolánek and Jan Fischer during the 2009 summits).

As of 2014, leaders from the following nations have been invited to the G20 summits: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Benin, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.[56]

Permanent guest invitations

Invitee Officeholder State Official title
African Union (AU) Idriss Déby  Chad President
(Chairperson)
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Najib Razak  Malaysia Prime Minister
(Chair)
Lê Lương Minh  Vietnam Secretary-General
Financial Stability Board (FSB) Mark Carney Chairperson
International Labour Organization (ILO) Guy Ryder Director General
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde Managing Director
Spain Mariano Rajoy  Spain Prime Minister
New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Macky Sall  Senegal President
(Chair)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) José Ángel Gurría Secretary-General
United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General
World Bank Group (WBG) Jim Yong Kim President
World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevêdo Director General

Criticisms

Exclusivity of membership

Although the G-20 has stated that the group's "economic weight and broad membership gives it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy and financial system,"[58] its legitimacy has been challenged. With respect to the membership issue, U.S. President Barack Obama has noted the difficulty of pleasing everyone: "everybody wants the smallest possible group that includes them. So, if they're the 21st largest nation in the world, they want the G-21, and think it's highly unfair if they have been cut out."[59] A 2011 report for the Danish Institute for International Studies, entitled "The G-20 and Beyond: Towards Effective Global Economic Governance", criticised the G-20's exclusivity, highlighting in particular its under-representation of the African continent. Moreover, the report stated that the G-20's practice of inviting observers from non-member states is a mere "concession at the margins", and does not grant the organisation representational legitimacy.[60] However, Global Policy stated in 2011 that the G-20's exclusivity is not an insurmountable problem, and proposed mechanisms by which it could become more inclusive.[61]

Norwegian perspective

In a 2010 interview with Der Spiegel,[6] Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the G-20 "one of the greatest setbacks since World War II." Although Norway is a major developed economy and the seventh-largest contributor to UN international development programs,[62] it is not a member of the EU, and thus is not represented in the G-20 even indirectly.[6] Norway, like the other 173 nations not among the G-20, has little or no voice within the group. Støre characterized the G-20 as a "self-appointed group", arguing that it undermines the legitimacy of international organizations set up in the aftermath of World War II, such as the IMF, World Bank and United Nations:

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The G-20 is a self-appointed group. Its composition is determined by the major countries and powers. It may be more representative than the G-7 or the G-8, in which only the richest countries are represented, but it is still arbitrary. We no longer live in the 19th century, a time when the major powers met and redrew the map of the world. No one needs a new Congress of Vienna.

— Jonas Gahr Støre, 2010[6]

Polish aspirations

The Polish government has also repeatedly expressed an interest in joining the G-20. During a 2010 meeting with foreign diplomats, former Polish president Lech Kaczyński stated:

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"Polish economy is according to our data an 18th world economy. The place of my country is among the members of the G-20. This is a very simple postulate: firstly - it results from the size of Polish economy, secondly - it results from the fact that Poland is the biggest country in its region and the biggest country that has experienced a certain story. That story is a political and economic transformation.

— Lech Kaczyński, 2010[63]

Before the G20 summit in London, Polish government expressed an interest in joining just as Spain or the Netherlands and condemned a 'organisational mess' in which a few European leaders speaks in the name of all the EU without any legitimate authorisation in cases that belongs to the European Commission. In 2012 Tim Fergusson wrote in Forbes that a swap of Argentina for Poland should be actively considered. In his article he claims that Polish economy is headed toward a leadership role in Europe and as a result it's membership would be more legitimate.[64] Similar opinions have been later expressed by an American magazine Foreign Policy, Wall Street Journal and also by Mamta Murthi from the World Bank.[65][66][67] In 2014 consulting company Ernst & Young published its report about optimal members for G-20. After analyzing trade, institutional and investment links Poland was included as one of the optimal members.[68] Membership in G-20 is also part of a political program of the ruling Law and Justice party and President Andrzej Duda.[69]

Global Governance Group (3G) response

In June 2010, Singapore's representative to the United Nations warned the G-20 that its decisions would affect "all countries, big and small", and asserted that prominent non-G-20 members should be included in financial reform discussions.[70] Singapore thereafter took a leading role in organizing the Global Governance Group (3G), an informal grouping of 28 non-G-20 countries (including several microstates and many Third World countries) with the aim of collectively channelling their views into the G-20 process more effectively.[71][72] Singapore's chairing of the 3G was cited as a rationale for inviting Singapore to the November 2010 G-20 summit in South Korea.[73]

Foreign Policy critiques

The American magazine Foreign Policy has published articles condemning the G-20, in terms of its principal function as an alternative to the supposedly exclusive G8. It questions the actions of some of the G-20 members, and advances the notion that some nations should not have membership in the first place. For example, it has suggested that Argentina should be formally replaced in the group by Poland or Spain.[7] Furthermore, with the effects of the Great Recession still ongoing, the magazine has criticized the G-20's efforts to implement reforms of the world's financial institutions, branding such efforts as failed.[74]

Wider concerns

The G-20's transparency and accountability have been questioned by critics, who call attention to the absence of a formal charter and the fact that the most important G-20 meetings are closed-door.[75] In 2001, the economist Frances Stewart proposed an Economic Security Council within the United Nations as an alternative to the G-20. In such a council, members would be elected by the General Assembly based on their importance in the world economy, and the contribution they are willing to provide to world economic development.[76]

The cost and extent of summit-related security is often a contentious issue in the hosting country, and G-20 summits have attracted protesters from a variety of backgrounds, including information activists, nationalists, and opponents of fractional-reserve banking and crony capitalism. In 2010, the Toronto G-20 summit sparked mass protests and rioting, leading to the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.[8]

See also

Notes

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "FAQ #5: What are the criteria for G-20 membership?". G20.org. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
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Further reading

External links