The G20 came into existence in 1999 against the backdrop of economic crises that arose in a number of emerging economies in the nineties. It was also an acknowledgement of the fact that middle income countries were inadequately represented in multilateral organisation. In the aftermath of global financial crisis of 2008, G20 was upgraded to Summit level to address the global financial and economic crisis.
The G20 or the Group of Twenty consists of 19 countries and 1 region, namely: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, People’s Republic of China (PRC), France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union. Under the inclusiveness principle, every year, guest countries and international organisations are invited to participate in the G20 events.
There are two pillars of discussion in the G20: the Finance Tract, known as the financial pillar, and the Sherpa Track, which addresses non-financial economic and development issues. Each pillar has its own working groups. Aside from the two tracks, there are also Engagement Groups, which consist of ten community groups from various professional circles and discuss a variety of topics.
Economic and financial coordination remains at the heart of the summit’s agenda, but issues such as the future of work, terrorism, climate change and global health are recurring focuses as well.
Each presidency decides its own focus areas. Indonesia holds the presidency for the year 2022, it chose, “Recover Together, Recover Stronger” as the theme. Its approach has been determined by the pressure exerted, on the health and financial sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
