Sabina Dewan on the G20

What is the G20 and why is it significant?

The G20 was initially conceived as a meeting of finance ministers from the G20 nations, but with the breaking of the economic and the financial crisis, the stakes have been raised and what we’ve seen is an evolution of the G20 to a forum of leaders of G20 nations.

This is very significant because the G20 now includes countries like China, India, and Brazil that are key players on the international stage. It’s very difficult to address the global challenges facing us without including these countries in the conversation.

What are leaders expected to focus on at the upcoming Pittsburgh G20 meeting?

With the economic crisis starting to abate, what we are likely to see is that the agenda for this upcoming Pittsburgh G20 meeting will evolve beyond addressing financial issues like corporate bonuses and regulation and reforming international financial institutions, to include how to make progress in addressing global climate change in advance of the Copenhagen meeting. We’re also likely to agenda address development and explore concrete ways to make progress on food security, reducing poverty, and cultivating employment and social protection.

What principles should guide discussions of the global economic recovery?

We need to make sure that moving forward economic growth and integration will benefit a much broader base of people than it has been so far. What this requires is shifting economies to a path of economic growth that is low carbon in nature. And it means leveraging this shift to reduce poverty, create employment, and build institutions that will provide people with economic and income security moving forward.