G20 host Indonesia hopes for progress in talks with top leaders, despite war frictions
G20 financial leaders will meet in Bali this week to discuss issues such as global food security and rising inflation, while host country Indonesia tries to ensure that frictions over the war in Ukraine don’t blow discussions off course.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine overshadowed a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 Major Economies last week as Russia’s top diplomat left a meeting, accusing the West of “frantic criticism”.
Indonesia hopes to release a communiqué when talks wrap up on Saturday, though the central bank governor said the meeting will be summarized in a statement from the chairman if that is not feasible.
“We hope for the best, but of course prepare for the worst,” said Indonesia’s central bank governor Perry Warjiyo.
“I don’t want to speculate, we are still trying very hard to reach a communiqué,” he said in an interview last week.
Indonesian officials have found disagreements between Western countries and Russia over how to frame a draft communiqué to describe the state of the global economy and how it is being affected by the war in Ukraine, which Moscow has called a “special military operation.” ” calls.
At the last meeting of the G20 financial leaders in Washington in April, no communiqué was issued and officials from some Western countries left the room when it was the turn of the Russian representative to speak.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Japanese Treasury Secretary Shunichi Suzuki blamed the war on volatility in currency markets and increasing the risk of a global recession after a bilateral meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Yellen and Suzuki will personally attend the meeting in Bali.
Indonesia has said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will address the meeting virtually, while his deputy travels to Bali. The Ukrainian Finance Minister is also invited and will attend one session virtually.
Aside from the war-related issues, Warjiyo said the G20 has made significant progress on topics such as central bank regulatory principles for crypto and digital currencies.
Indonesia’s G20 Deputy for Finance, Wempi Saputra, said the group will seek to put forward actions to help poor countries deal with an impending food crisis by ensuring the supply and affordability of food and fertilizers.
Other topics on the agenda include the creation of a fund under the World Bank to better prepare for future pandemics and a Resilience and Sustainability Trust at the International Monetary Fund accessible to countries in need of money, as well as debt relief for the poor. to land.
Yellen urged China and other creditors outside the Paris Club to work “constructively” together to help low-income countries struggling with debt.
Indonesia’s Wempi said a multinational signing of a global tax deal, initially planned on the sidelines of meetings, has been postponed. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has set a new target to introduce the major tax reform in 2024 instead of 2023.
