The G20 summit at five

Abstract

The formation of the G20 is a major achievement, perhaps even the most important achievement of international economic diplomacy in recent times. With its elevation to a leaders’ summit five years ago, the G20 is now the premier forum for global economic governance. Most observers believe that this initiative made a decisive difference in preventing the global financial crisis from developing on a scale that threatened to have consequences as damaging as the Great Depression of the 1930s. But what is the G20’s role now that the global economy appears on the mend? The G20 summit brought a fundamental change in the structure of global economic governance. The inclusion at the table of five Asian economies, in addition to Japan, recognised the shift in the structure of economic power that made the old order, dominated by the G7, obsolete. The essays on the G20 in this issue of EAFQ are based on the book The G20 Summit at Five: Time for Strategic Leadership, the product of a major ANU–Brookings Institution project in the lead-up to the next G20 summit, to be held in Australia in November. The challenge now is to create sustainable global growth based on real productivity gains and new long-term jobs in the valueadded chains of the products and services of the future. Above all, G20 leaders have to ensure that key global economic institutions are robust and able to withstand unexpected shocks if and when they occur. Leaders can add value, for example, in addressing big questions about whether the global trade regime is headed in the right direction and how to shape the investment regime. This issue of EAFQ also launches a new feature: four essays on major trends and developments in the region. This feature, Asian Review, will be a regular in the EAFQ alongside its coverage of a particular theme of importance about Asia’s place in the world. Show more