A Decade View of G-20 Presidency

 The G20 is a grouping of the twenty largest economies in the world, including both developed and developing nations. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States make up the G20. Together, the G20 nations account for around 90% of the world's GDP, 80% of its commerce, and two thirds of its population.

Traditional concerns like trade facilitation, trade aid, global value chains, and the contribution of trade to employment have given way to new opportunities and problems like excess capacity, rising participation of MSMEs and women in global value chains, trade in services, supply chain security, and corresponding connections between trade and digitalization, health, and the environment. Following covid, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient trade are prioritized. The result documents under the Indonesian leadership once again acknowledge the interdisciplinary character of trade while also emphasizing the importance of developing local capacity.

A decade view of G-20 Presidency

• 2013, St. Petersburg: Transparency is a major topic of debate during the G20's inaugural meeting of trade ministers. Support for the Transparency in Trade Initiative is pledged. Increasing openness in RTAs is a topic of discussion, and a supporting paper has been published on the subject.

• In Brisbane, 2014: A breakthrough between the US and India just before the G20 summit (which was significant enough to be mentioned in the summit text) gives hope for progressing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement's implementation.

• SMEs are first highlighted in 2015 in Antalya in relation to boosting their involvement in GVCs.

• The Trade, Investment and Industry Working Group (TIIWG) is founded in Hangzhou in 2016. • The G20 supports the G20 Strategy for Global Trade Growth, which calls on the G20 to set an example in reducing trade costs, leveraging trade and investment policy coherence, boosting trade in services, improving trade financing, fostering the growth of e-commerce, and addressing trade and development. • Publication of the G20 Digital Economy Development and Cooperation Initiative, which discusses e-commerce.  The significance of free trade and investment is taken into account while discussing industrialization (the New Industrial Revolution).  The term "environmental goods" is first used.  The first discussion of e-commerce and digital trade is included under B20.  A call is made to create a worldwide forum to talk about steel's surplus capacity.

• 2017, Hamburg: For the first time, the DDA is not mentioned—a trend that will continue moving forward—and the customary standstill/rollback pledge on trade measures is also absent—a trend that will also go forward.

• 'Protectionism' is not included in the summit document for the first time in 2018, in Buenos Aires, a trend that will go on moving forward.

• There is discussion about agro-food GVCs.

• The New Industrial Revolution (NIR)'s prospects and challenges for trade and investment are examined, and an inventory of country experiences, programmes, policies, and practices on these elements of the NIR is developed.

• In Osaka in 2019, trade and digital economy ministers get together for the first time to better understand how the two fields interact.

• 2020, Riyadh: In response to COVID-19, two Extraordinary G20 Virtual Trade and Investment Ministerial Meetings are convened in March and May. Short-term collective efforts (trade regulation, facilitation, transparency, logistics networks, MSMEs) and longer-term collective actions (multilateral trading system, global supply chains, international investment) are prioritized as part of the Covid-19 response to boost trade. The term "supply chains" is first used. The Riyadh Initiative on the Future of the WTO is established to provide members another chance to contribute to solving the problem.  The publishing of optional, non-binding policy recommendations aimed at enhancing MSMEs' global competitiveness. Economic diversification is examined, with a focus on service trade and special economic zones (SEZs): Two Synthesis Reports on best practices and lessons learned by member nations are produced by TIIWG.

• 2021, Rome: The discussion of how trade policy may aid attempts to improve global health. It is acknowledged how important it is to have trade and environmental policies that work together. It is confirmed that stronger international regulations on industry subsidies are necessary. Market accessibility and agricultural subsidies are discussed.  Released is a non-obligatory MSME Policy Toolkit.

• Only the Chair's Summary is made public following the trade ministerial in Bali in 2022.

The release of non-binding guiding principles for the multilateral trading system to support the SDGs provides a broad perspective on how open and transparent trade contributes to multiple developmental priorities, from reducing hunger and improving health to tackling climate change and protecting the environment on land and underwater. In this annexes document, the word "trade protectionism" appears in relation to SDG 1.

The importance of home industry and capacity is emphasized, particularly in light of MSMEs' integration into global commerce and food security. The Indonesian president has taken the initiative to formalize debates on industrial-related problems in the framework of policy consistency between business, investment, and industry.

The G20 can boost confidence once more. In this time of polycrisis, the forum can once again take advantage of the opportunity of a high-level platform to have an open discussion about the need to prevent greater uncertainty in the multilateral trading system, to rationalise trade behaviour that avoids negative-sum outcomes, and to introduce measures that reduce risk in the system. The forum came into its own as a crisis institution to address the global financial upheaval. This is separate from any and all ongoing discussions about particular trade or trade-related problems that improve the breadth and caliber of involvement in international commerce and the distribution of its advantages. The Trade and Investment Working Group's agenda for the upcoming year should be driven by two goals: 1) enhancing resilience without jeopardising economic growth; and 2) maintaining focused engagement on current trade challenges that promote equitable development. The G20 Chair can direct work in three different ways: advancing feasible, timely trade commitments; presenting its own developmental experience for peer learning; and utilising the vast network at the forum's disposal to share learnings and incubate solutions to build broad consensus on the multilateral trading system.

Dr. Neeti Sharma