Group Effort
The G20 Leaders' Summit may be held over just two days, but it represents over a year's worth of work, organization, and negotiation for the secretariat behind the scenes and many other stakeholders.
The G20 Leaders' Summit may be held over just two days, but it represents over a year's worth of work, organization, and negotiation for the secretariat behind the scenes and many other stakeholders.
This year’s G20 Leaders’ Summit,
while the fifteenth overall, is one of many firsts. The first to be held virtually, the first to be hosted in the Middle East and by Saudi Arabia, and the first to be held during a worldwide pandemic. However, it is not the first to be held at a crucial and uncertain time for the global economy—the G20 was created from a need to tackle a common issue through international connections.
I Where it began
When the first G20 Leaders' Summit was held in Washington, in November 2008, it came at the start of the global financial crisis. The gathered leaders discussed the root causes of the crisis and what actions to take, and committed to fostering an open global economy that embraced free market principals, open trade, and regulated financial systems. These issues fueled the G20 debates for the next two years, until the conversation turned from crisis to recovery. The 2010 summit in Toronto hailed the G20 in its “new capacity as the premier forum for our international economic cooperation.” According to a declaration by the leaders, their united front had worked in tackling and turning around a global crisis.
Fast forward a decade and the world—now aware of the potential power of the G20 summit and finding itself in the midst of an economytoppling pandemic, an ongoing trade war, and impending climate change—is watching, waiting, and again hoping for answers.
I How does it work?
Every year, whichever country holds the presidency sets the agenda. When Saudi Arabia first began its one-year presidency of the G20 in December 2019, it planned to host international government, heads of state, and media representatives across multiple events and locations in and around the capital of Riyadh, unaware of the pandemic that was about to hit. Despite having to completely change the logistics of the event since then, the overarching theme chosen last year was forward-thinking and is still apt today, even when viewed through the lens of 2020.
This year, under the umbrella of “Realizing Opportunities Of The 21st Century For All,” leaders will explore three sub-themes: empowering people, safeguarding the planet, and shaping new frontiers. These themes are not just discussed at the two-day summit—the secretariat arranges meetings throughout the year between ministers, government, and civil society representatives. This is done via three main tracks: civil society representatives are brought together through “engagement groups,” while the “sherpa” and “financial” tracks organize meetings at a government level.
The G20 Leaders' Summit is the culmination of the year's work and discussions, and the G20 group's final decisions and comments are communicated through a “declaration” or “communique,” which is released after the final meeting has been held.
I Engagement groups
The G20 engagement groups represent “civil society,” which is a sector that can be considered separate from government or business. According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), civil society refers to “the space for collective action around shared interests, purposes and values, generally distinct from government and commercial for-profit actors.” This includes charities, development NGOs, community groups, women's organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, trade unions, social movements, coalitions, and advocacy groups. “The inclusion of civil society voices is essential to give expression to the marginalized and those who often are not heard,” according to the WHO.
Dr. Reem Alfrayan, Executive Director for Engagement Groups for the Saudi G20 Presidency, led the
secretariat team that facilitated this year's engagement group meetings. She was approached by the secretariat on LinkedIn for the role thanks to her unique experience. With a PhD in educational leadership and organization from the University of California Santa Barbara, Alfrayan's past experience includes working for the Arab Open University, the Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiques, King Abdulaziz Medical City, and the National Strategy for Women Empowerment through the Women Committee at the Council of Family Affairs.
This year there were eight independent G20 engagement groups: the Business 20 (B20); the Youth 20 (Y20); the Labor 20 (L20); the Think 20 (T20); the Civil 20 (C20); the Women 20 (W20); the Science 20 (S20); and the Urban 20 (U20). Each collective held virtual meetings to discuss the financial and socioeconomic challenges affecting its community, with the support of Alfrayan's G20 secretariat team, who then shared the groups' policy recommendations with the G20 Leaders' Summit.
These meetings discussed wideranging topics and formulated ideas to create a world in which all people can live, work, and thrive. This included supporting women and young people, as well as ensuring an inclusive recovery and tackling inequality. “Supporting civil society and private sector organizations is a complex formula where the objective is to enable them without interfering with their unique agendas and independence throughout the year,” says Alfrayan. “Engagement groups make sure the voices of civil society, business, women, youth, local government, academia, science, and workers are heard.”
I The sherpa track
A G20 sherpa is a personal representative of a head of state or government who helps to arrange the summit. As part of this, the sherpa track organizes meetings between ministers and senior officials that explore socioeconomic issues. This includes topics such as agriculture, anticorruption, climate change, digitization, education, employment, energy, environment, health, tourism, trade, and investment.
Dr. Abdullah Alhassan, the Saudi G20 Sous-Sherpa and Executive Director of Policy, was a macrofinancial economist working for the IMF when he first met the Saudi G20 Sherpa, His Excellency Dr. Fahad Al-Mubarak in 2018. Once he learnt more about Saudi's vision to use its presidency to create a positive impact for the world, he took a sabbatical from the IMF to join the team. He has led both the policy team and the Sherpa's Office as they have planned, developed and implemented an ambitious agenda. “In a truly extraordinary year, we have strived to ensure the group's effective response to the critical issues facing our world,” says Alhassan. These critical issues include employment challenges facing young people, climate change, and the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on sectors such as tourism, healthcare, and education.
According to Alhassan, labor and employment ministers have already met to promote the G20 Youth Roadmap, agreeing to “take measures to achieve the Antalya Youth Goal through facilitating steady and successful labor market entry and transitions, strengthening support for young people, and tackling the additional challenges faced by young women in particular, in gaining access to quality employment.” The Antalya
Youth Goal, set at the leaders' summit held in Turkey in 2015, aims to reduce the number of youth at risk of being left behind in the labor market by 15% by 2025. Tourism ministers also held extraordinary meetings to address the challenges facing their sector and took action to strengthen its resilience and develop a path to recovery.
Discussions around climate change have traditionally been contentious in past G20 meetings, with leaders disagreeing on responsibilities and a way forward. However, Saudi Arabia has sought to find common ground. “We are focusing on our shared objectives as a group,” says Alhassan. In particular, the G20's Climate Stewardship Working Group has focused on adapting to a Circular Carbon Economy and managing emissions in the industry, food, and mobility sectors. “The kingdom launched an ambitious economic blueprint that includes our efforts to restore coral reefs and protect the environment, as well as our efforts in promoting renewables,” Alhassan adds.
I The finance track
The finance track arranges meetings between G20 finance ministers, central bank governors, and their deputies, focusing on fiscal and monetary policy issues. Abdulmuhsen Alkhalaf, Chief Policy Officer of the Saudi G20 Finance Track Program, was working in Washington at the World Bank Group when he was approached for the role. Today he leads the team responsible for planning and executing all G20 Finance Track activities, including developing and coordinating policies and initiatives that aim to address global challenges and promote strong, sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
Of course, this year the global economy has been rocked, leaving nations in need of support more than ever. Therefore, in April 2020, G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors agreed on a G20 Action Plan to support economies throughout the pandemic, which included investing more than $11 trillion. “By far, this is the largest support package on record, and it has lessened the economic jolt and helped prevent worsening growth outcomes,” says Alkhalaf.
The secretariat also worked with G20 members to launch the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative, which allowed 73 eligible countries to defer an estimated $14 billion owed to bilateral creditors. “Multilateral development banks committed to providing developing countries with $230 billion to support their response to the pandemic, including a commitment of $75 billion to DSSI-eligible countries from April to December 2020,” Alkhalaf adds.
Another major issue that emerged this year was that of trust and security as finance becomes increasingly digitized. To address this the G20 Presidency put forward the theme of “Framing Supervisory and Regulatory Issues for the Digital Era” for discussion. As part of this the secretariat worked with G20 members, the Financial Stability Board, and Standard Setting Bodies to develop a “G20 Roadmap to Enhance CrossBorder Payments.”
It also worked with the IMF, the Financial Stability Board and the Financial Action Task Force to develop recommendations regarding the regulation, supervision and oversight of global stablecoins. And it worked with the Financial Stability Board to understand and assess the use of technology. “This allowed G20 members to share their experiences and learn how players within the financial system have been incorporating technology into their own practices,” explains Alkhalaf.
I An exceptional year
Early on, this became a unique year in the G20's history, with Saudi Arabia taking unusual measures when the global impact of COVID-19 started becoming clear. The kingdom called for an extraordinary virtual summit in March 2020. During this meeting, according to the secretariat, G20 members committed over $21 billion to support health systems and the search for a vaccine, making over $14 billion available in debt relief for developing nations and injecting over $11 trillion into safeguarding the global economy.
As of October 26 2020, the G20 Saudi Secretariat had organized 116 virtual meetings, including the extraordinary summit in March, as well as 26 ministerial-level meetings.