Context

• The G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in New Delhi is just around the corner — it will be held on September 9 and 10. 

G20 Summit 2023

• The G20 meeting in New Delhi will be the 18th such annual summit since its inception.
  • The first summit was convened in Washington DC in November 2008.

    

• Apart from the 20 member countries, the meeting was attended by the heads of the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations, along with Spain and the Netherlands.

Previous G20 summits

2008: USA

• The first G20 summit took place on November 14 and 15, 2008, in Washington DC, USA. It was held against the backdrop of the 2008 global economic crisis — the summit was called ‘Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy’.
• Its key achievements included leaders agreeing on common principles for reforming global financial markets and launching an action plan to implement those principles.
• The common principles were as follows: strengthening transparency and accountability; enhancing sound regulation; promoting integrity in financial markets; reinforcing international cooperation; reforming international financial institutions (IFIs).

2009: United Kingdom

• The next G20 summit convened in London, the United Kingdom, on April 2, 2009.
• The main focus in the second edition of the meeting continued to be the global economic crisis.
• There were three main outcomes, according to the Brookings Institution, a think tank based in Washington DC.
  • First, due to the process of concertation, communication and coordination in the run-up to the summit, the G20 countries together “provided $5 trillion in stimulus to the world economy, an unprecedented combined jolt to precipitously dropping global demand.”
  • Second, member countries pledged $1 trillion dollars in additional resources to the IMF and promised to “strengthen its role in global finance and reform its governance.
  • Third, leaders committed themselves to strengthening national and global institutions for oversight, supervision and regulation of financial markets and institutions.

2009: USA

• The second G20 summit of 2009 was planned right after the completion of the London meeting.
• The summit took place on September 24 and 25 in Pittsburgh, USA. At the summit, the G20 was officially designated as “the premier forum for international economic co-operation”.
• The move was a recognition that the G8 was a thing of the past, as it excluded the emerging economies of China, India, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil.

2010: Canada

• This edition of the G20 summit was held in Toronto, Canada, on June 26 and 27, 2010.
• The leaders of member countries acknowledged the fragile and uneven state of the global economy after the 2008 economic crisis.
• Most significantly, advanced economies agreed to cut their deficits in half by 2013, and put debt loads on a stable or downward path by 2016.

2010: South Korea

• The fifth G20 summit convened on November 11 and 12, 2010, in Seoul, South Korea.
• For the first time in the meeting’s short history, development policy issues were on its agenda.
• Together they came to be known as ‘Seoul Development Consensus for Shared Growth’.

2011: France

• The 2011 G20 summit took place on November 3 and 4 in Cannes, France.
• The focus of the meeting was the reform of the international monetary system, according to an Indian government document.
• The establishment of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) was one of the key outcomes of the summit.
• AMIS is an inter-agency platform to enhance food market transparency and encourage international policy coordination in times of crisis, the document added.

2012: Mexico

• The subsequent summit convened on June 18 and 19, 2012, in Los Cabos, Mexico.
• Its main agenda was to find ways to fight youth unemployment and generate quality jobs with social security coverage and fair income.
• The meeting also underlined the link among development agenda, agriculture and environment-friendly economic growth.

2013: Russia

• The next meeting was held on September 5 and 6, 2013, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
• At the summit, leaders not only agreed on the automatic exchange of tax information but also passed something called the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
• The plan sought to put together a regulatory policy to oversee the activities of tax-evading multinational companies, which minimise their profits and shift them to other countries, where the activities deriving those profits take place.

2014: Australia

• The 2014 G20 summit was organised on November 15 and 16 in Brisbane, Australia.
• The leaders set an ambitious goal at the conclusion of the meeting — to increase the G20 countries’ collective GDP by an additional two per cent.
• They also aimed at reducing the gender gap in the labour workforce by 25% by 2025.

2015: Turkey

• The 10th G20 summit was conducted on November 15 and 16 in Antalya, Turkey.
• This edition of the meeting marked the first time that G20 member countries focused on the migration and refugee crisis.
• Moreover, leaders agreed to more financial sector reforms and support for plans to tackle climate change.
• A statement on the ‘Fight against Terrorism’ was also issued.

2016: China

• The next meeting convened on September 4 and 5, 2016, in Hangzhou, China. Two developments stood out during the summit.
  • One, the digital economy — an essential driver of development and growth — was included in the G20 agenda for the first time.
  • Two, the ‘G20 Action Plan on 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ was adopted.
  • The plan sought to promote sustainable development among the member countries.

2017: Germany

• The 2017 meeting took place in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7 and 8. During the summit, special emphasis was given to the topic of counter-terrorism.
• The joint declaration issued at the end of the summit reiterated the importance of the Paris Agreement — an international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015 — and said it was “irreversible”.

2018: Argentina

• The subsequent summit was held on November 30 and December 1, 2018, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. According to a report by the United Nations, the joint statement by the leaders underscored three key messages.
  • First, it reaffirmed support for the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development — it envisages “a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination”.
  • Second, it stressed the need for ramping up the efforts to deal with climate change.
  • Third, the statement showed that the G20 leaders recognised the importance of a multilateral approach to trade and of the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and renewed their commitment to a rules-based international order.

• This edition of the G20 summit took place on June 28 and 29 in Japan’s Osaka.
• The most important statement from the leaders came regarding the exploitation of the Internet for terrorism.
• They urged online platforms not to facilitate terrorism and Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism (VECT), and to prevent such content from being streamed, uploaded, or re-uploaded.

2020: Saudi Arabia

• The 2020 G20 summit was scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia on November 21 and November 22.
• But it was held via video conference due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The leaders pledged to work together to overcome the pandemic, restore growth, and build a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient future.

2021: Italy

• The 16th G20 summit was organised on October 30 and October 31 in Rome, Italy. After the talks, the leaders committed to keep fighting against climate change.
• They agreed to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees compared with pre-industrial levels within reach.
• The leaders also pledged to achieve global net zero greenhouse gas emissions or carbon neutrality by or around mid-century.

2022: Indonesia

• Held on November 15 and 16 in Bali, Indonesia, this was the first G20 summit since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 and the first full-fledged physical leaders’ meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
• The joint statement of member countries condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
• It also condemned the use of, or threats of the use of, nuclear weapons.

Source: IE

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