On April 2nd, Gordon Brown will be chairing the next G20 meeting in the UK, and we’re going to be following it here on the ONE Blog. To start it off, I wanted to give you a background on all this Gx stuff

Is it me or are there a lot of G’s flying around? G7, G8, G13, G20 …

The G20, established in 1999 in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, has been the focus of much attention recently, primarily due to the global economic turmoil. The G20 is made up of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the USA and the European Union. The IMF and World Bank also participate in G20 meetings on an ex-officio basis.

In areas such as global economic stability and growth, the G20 aims to promote open and useful exchanges between the cross-section of countries, including emerging countries as well as advanced. Its members are one of the things that really set it apart from the more well known G8. The G20 also plays a significant role in the reform of the international financial architecture which is one of the reasons why it has become so prominent in recent months. As well as measures to cope with the financial crisis, the G20 should also be making progress on international development and climate change for example.

On 15 November 2008, leaders of the G20 countries met in Washington for an emergency summit were they came up with a declaration and action plan. This meeting wasn’t in isolation though but rather the first of a series of meetings and processes which will unfold. One of the key meetings coming up is the G20 summit in London on 2nd April hosted by Gordon Brown (the UK are chairing the G20 this year) where Heads of State and others will seek ways to implement the actions put forward in the November summit.

Paul Martin, Canada’s former prime and finance minister (who attended the G7 meetings and helped form the G20), believes that “the G-20 reflects the realities of the global economy. Its finance ministers are becoming the dominant policy-making body.”

Alongside the G20 meetings, there is a parallel process occurring with the G8. This year’s G8 Summit will be held in La Maddalena, Italy, on July 8 – 10. As with the G20, there will be many meetings in the run up to this summit. One such example is a meeting for the G8 Development Ministers which will take place between May 21 and 23 in Pecara, Italy.

G7 Finance Ministers’ Meeting – Feb 14th, Rome

The G7 is made up of the following developed countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA. The G7 finance ministers met in Rome this weekend in order to help policymakers decide on regulation of financial institutions for example and prepare for the April G20 summit in London. This was US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s first international outing.

As he wrapped up the meeting, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti called for a “new world economic order”.

The statement which was released at the meeting’s conclusion also makes specific reference to developing countries. It emphasizes the need to support emerging and developing countries’ access to credit and trade financing and makes specific reference to IMF and World Bank funding:

“We agree that a reformed IMF, endowed with additional resources, is crucial to respond effectively and flexibly to the current crisis [...] We also welcome the contribution of the World Bank and regional Development Banks to providing finance to emerging and developing countries affected by the crisis, using their resources effectively”

Let’s hope that in the coming weeks and months the positive rhetoric about tackling global poverty will be turned into concrete action. Investing just a small part of a global stimulus package in Africa, particularly in infrastructure and agriculture, could help the global economy as a whole.

One of the next key dates to watch out for is February 22 – Coordination meeting of European governments in G20, Berlin.

-Jessica Gomez-Duran