There are over 2,000 media here to cover this summit and our job is to try and ensure developing country needs and voices are represented (more on this soon)… a daunting prospect in such a huge room (see below), with locations for every major TV broadcast, radio and newspaper in the world. Even the journalists themselves seem a bit lost – the smart outlets are taping homemade signs around on the walls so that people can locate them…

Once inside the center, I found my way to the table with the large G20 Voice sign. We were told that we’d have a G20 sign just like all the G20 countries’ delegations’ tables had signs. But that didn’t turn out to be exactly right.

Our sign is much, much larger than the other ones.

Below- see our sign, and then Japanese and South African tables’ signs. (Note that South Africa is the only African country in the G20.)

And then here is a shot of our G20 bloggers table.

Like a kid on Christmas morning – or a global poverty advocate with accreditation to the G20 Summit – I was up early to start the day. Only 2,000 people are allowed into this summit, and we’ve been told that the 50 bloggers of the G20Voice project are the only members of civil society who were allowed accreditation. Below a photo journey of my way in.

I took this during my 5:30 am walk to the Tube -

which opened 6 minutes after I arrived.

I arrived at the proper station by sunrise for the first of four accreditation/passport checks.

Then we boarded the first of 2 shuttle buses.

Where we received our photo badges. (Somehow my passport ID was one number off in their records, but the woman behind the desk remembered my name from the list of bloggers she’d received, so I got in fine.)

We went through security.

Onto a “clean” bus.

And then into the Media Centre for the 2009 London G20 Summit.

Yesterday, I talked about the leaked draft outcome document of the upcoming G20 Summit and how it compares with what we’d like out of the Summit. G20 leaders’ focus is to restore global growth in light of this current global crisis. In our document that we sent to the G20 governments ahead of the Summit, we emphasise how this crisis is truly a ‘global’ crisis, affecting the very poor in Africa and in other developing countries – which in turn stresses the importance of a global solution that involves the poorest of the world.

We’ve already highlighted in previous posts that decreased economic growth in poor countries will force an additional 53 million people to live on less than $2 a day this year, a rise in absolute poverty that is additional to the 130-155 million more people already pushed into poverty in 2008 as a result of soaring food and fuel prices. While social safety-net programs and stimulus packages are implemented in developed countries, poor countries don’t have the same options. According to a October 2008 Oxfam paper, more than half of the world’s workers and their dependents are excluded from any type of social protection. The impact of the crisis is significant, already being felt across the poorer parts of the world, threatening to unravel major progress made in just the past few years. It is therefore essential that the G20 summit address the needs of the poor. But more importantly, failing to do so could also have ramifications for the rest of the world.

On top of that, Africa has the potential to bring long term benefits to the rest of the world, if it is included in the global solution. Africa offers untapped resources — such as agricultural potential and energy resources — that could potentially help resolve some of the world’s greatest current challenges as well as lift some African countries out of poverty if these assets have the right stewardship. Unfortunately, at this point in time, they all remain potential opportunities that need to be cultivated in order to yield returns to the global community. In order to harness the potential of these opportunities, there is need for immediate and additional investment in Africa through front-loaded development assistance, additional grants and, where appropriate, concessional loans through bilateral channels as well as international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and the African Development Bank. Investments in infrastructure, agricultural productivity, green investments that could help with climate change mitigation, and development of human capacity are essential elements of this.

In addition, Africa needs new opportunities in order to better integrate itself into the global economy. ONE advocates a number of regulatory and governance reforms including: reforms of the international financial institutions to reflect the voices of developing countries, notably in Africa; Financial regulations reforms to consider illicit capital flight from developing countries and erosion of tax base in developing countries; and ensuring that G20 countries do not retreat into protectionist policies.

-Mikiko Imai

Watch ONE’s Executive Director Jamie Drummond lead a roundtable on the G20 (at the G20Voice bloggers briefing day) live now.

(I can upload video from his earlier speech in a bit.)

You can watch the briefing day discussion live streamed at g20voices.org.

Here is how they describe this event on the site:

50 of the world’s most interesting and influential bloggers will be your eyes and ears at the G20 Summit in London, April 2. They come from 22 different countries, and between them represent a global audience of over 14 million readers and online participants. They are journalists who use blogging as their medium to disseminate their views. Some are ‘professional bloggers’, others are ordinary citizens who have become well known through their blogs.

I’m in London at a briefing day as a part of a project called G20 Voice. With an inspired idea and a lot of work, the core group running this project have gotten 50 bloggers, from across the globe, accredited for the official media room at tomorrow’s G20 Summit. It will be the first time that civil society has ever been admitted into a global summit of this size.

The briefing began with an introduction by Karina Brisby of Oxfam GB who spoke of the origin of this project.

She told us that last summer she watched YouTube videos of the bloggers tent at the Democratic National Convention and she was inspired by the bloggers’ abilities to cover so many issues at the DNC that were being passed over by the mainstream media.

Next, Karina watched the November 2008 G20 in Wahsington, DC, on the news, and was worried that the press was not covering how the fiscal crisis was affecting those living in poverty.

So, then Karina got to work, getting buy-in from Oxfam GB, and then submitting lots and lots of forms to the UK government. Over time, Save the Children, Blue State Digital and ONE joined as partners.

Today- 50 bloggers are sitting in this briefing room, bloggers from each of the G20 countries and 15 from the developing world. Tomorrow, we’ll pass through all of the security and barricades to enter the G20 Summit.

OK- I’m getting back to listening to the briefing.

-Virginia Simmons

Just as I was writing to share what we’ve been pressing the G20 leaders to commit to at the G20 Summit in London coming up this Thursday, I learned of a leaked draft communiqué (statement) that G20 leaders are planning to release at the end of the Summit. According to this allegedly latest draft, G20 leaders will focus on restoring global growth by agreeing to avoiding protectionism and improving global financial regulation. The draft, which currently contains very few concrete numbers, is a good start, which includes a number of measures that will help the poorest countries too:

First, although it does not mention a nominal figure yet, the draft includes a commitment to increase the resources available for international financial institutions such as the IMF and other multilateral development banks, which will allow developing countries to finance vital spending to offset the crisis. It also specifically mentions that the G20 leaders will make resources available in social protection for the poorest countries.

Second, in the section on the reform of the international financial institutions, the draft agrees to taking concrete steps towards emerging and developing countries, including the poorest having greater voice and representation.

Third, the draft agrees to reform global financial systems, including strengthening financial regulations, for example in tax havens.

ONE’s key message to the G20 leaders is that the poorest must be included in any global solution to the current crisis, both because they will be the hardest hit, and also because their economic growth can be part of the long term solution. Even though they had very little to do with causing the financial crisis, the potential impact on the poorest is significant, threatening to unravel major progress made in development over just the past few years. I hope that the G20 leaders will move this draft communiqué forward to agree on concrete steps that will further address the concerns of the poorest in Africa and in other developing countries.

-Mikiko Imai

Today members of the ONE team attended a debate, My word is my bond? Rebuilding trust – the G20 and beyond, at the iconic St Paul’s Cathedral in London. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd both spoke and answered questions from the audience in a panel chaired by the Bishop of London. It was also the last public speech Mr Brown is to make before the G20 Summit on Thursday.

Gordon Brown told faith leaders and NGO representatives that the world must adopt global economic rules based on common values. He said that the leaders of the G20 need to make decisions that will shape the global economy in the interests of everybody with “shared global rules founded on shared global values”. He went on to say, “I believe that both markets and governments have a responsibility to serve the public interest, that the poor are our shared responsibility and that wealth carries unique responsibilities too.”

In his speech, Gordon Brown set out what he deemed our four biggest challenges facing the world today:

1. Financial and economic instability
2. Environmental degradation
3. Violent extremism
4. Extreme poverty

Most notably for our issues, the UK Prime Minister explicitly said that “we must never ever forget our obligations to the poor” and added that “even while others may use this financial crisis as an excuse […] nothing will divert the United Kingdom from keeping to our commitments to the Millennium Development Goals and to our promises of development and aid” – a statement which roused the audience and delivered the loudest applause.

To close the debate, both Prime Ministers were asked what their final message would be to this audience before the G20 Summit. Interestingly, Kevin Rudd said that we shouldn’t let the Millennium Development Goals slide and that they must be core business for every government. He also went to say that Gordon Brown was the “collective conscience of the West” and that he always has it on the agenda and is continuously engaged on this subject.

This is all great to hear, particularly on the eve of such a significant summit, now it just remains to see what does actually get agreed upon on Thursday. We will be blogging increasingly as the week progresses and keeping you all updated so do check in regularly!

See ONE’s reaction to the St Paul’s debate here.

View Gordon Brown’s speech at St Paul’s here.

-Jessica Gomez-Duran

Prime Minister Gordon Brown undertook a whirlwind pre-G20 tour from 24th to 29th March which took him to Strasbourg, New York, Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Santiago.

In New York, Gordon Brown met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and in the press conference afterwards both of them said they were committed to helping the world’s poorest nations at the G20. Ban Ki-Moon wrote a letter to all the leaders of the G20 in which he asks them to commit to a large fiscal stimulus for developing countries. He said:

‘G20 countries should commit to sustaining an international stimulus package on top of their national stimulus packages. It needs to be of a very substantial size.’

In the third leg of his trip, the Prime Minister held talks with the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as leading business figures. On Friday, Mr Brown and President Lula agreed to call for countries breaking free-trade agreements to be named, and for the G20 to provide $100 billion in trade credit.

In the final leg of the tour, Gordon Brown met President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and discussed the key issues covered by the London Summit, including avoiding protectionism during this financial crisis. Whilst in Chile, Prime Minister attended the Progressive Governance Conference, which was also attended by Presidents Bachelet and Lula, Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner, and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. For more information on this conference, see here.

-Jessica Gomez-Duran