Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist January 2019 | Page 14

Therefore, G20 constitutes a major multilateral forum for
global governance, economic cooperation, and international
political dialogue. In the past few years, however, the
G20 came under persistent criticism, with many observers
regarding it as a venue for talk shop and photo operations
without any outcome of substance.
This is happening against the backdrop of a bigger
context in which globalization, global governance, and
multilateralism are under strong pressure by current trends
of populism, protectionism, and unilateralism. Some analysts
even suggest we are witnessing a decisive deviation from the
current liberal rules-based international order.
This was clearly manifested during the 44th G7 Summit
held on June 8-9, 2018, in Canada, where the level of tension
between the United States President Donald Trump and the
other members became evident, and also during the 30th
Asia Pacifi c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in
Papua New Guinea on November 17-18, 2018, right before
the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Buenos Aires. For the fi rst time
in 25 years, APEC members failed to produce a fi nal joint
declaration.
Moreover, several G20 leaders came to Buenos Aires in
the midst of various developments which distracted their
attention from the summit: presidential transitions in Mexico
and Brazil; the Brexit issue in Great Britain; the yellow vests
movements in France; and the deterioration of public relations
following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi for Saudi
Arabia, among others.
Subsequently, the international media was seemingly
uninterested in the summit’s offi cial agenda and largely
focused on the bilateral meetings in the sidelines. Arguably
the most important was the Trump-Xi meeting owing to the
escalation in trade-related disputes between the United States
and China.
In this context of low-to-moderate expectations, President
Macri and the Argentine government worked throughout all
2018 and the Leaders’ Summit itself to keep the G20 process
alive, pressing for consensus, and fi nally achieving a fi nal
G20 Leaders’ declaration titled “Building consensus for fair
and sustainable development”.
The declaration begins by welcoming the strong global
economic growth while recognizing it has been increasingly
less synchronized between countries. Monetary policy will
nevertheless continue to support economic activity and
ensure price stability, and fi scal policy will rebuild buff ers
where needed and ensure public debt is on a sustainable
path. The declaration goes on mentioning several key issues
of an expansive agenda such as the role of transformative
technologies in labour market, access to education, training
and skill development, underlining the importance of girls’
education, infrastructure, food security, gender equality,
fi nancial inclusion, and large movements of refugees as
a global concern with humanitarian, political, social and
economic consequences.
Energy security was also addressed, and here, while the
Leaders declare they encourage energy transitions towards
cleaner, more fl exible and transparent systems, they also
acknowledge the role of all energy sources and technologies
in the energy mix and diff erent possible national paths to
achieve the transitions.
Also related to energy security and growth are
environmental concerns, and here is where the lack of
universal consensus was more clearly manifested. Article
20 of the Declaration refers to the Paris Agreement, whose
signatories reaffirm it is irreversible and commit to its
full implementation, refl ecting common but diff erentiated
responsibilities and respective capabilities in light of diff erent
national circumstances. Article 21, however, warns that the
14 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 1 • January 2019, Noida