The G20 or Group of Twenty is a major forum for international economic cooperation. The members of the grouping include the largest economies in the world and comprise 19 countries and 1 European Union institution.
Indonesia’s presidency of the G20 was a turning point for the nation after the COVID-19 pandemic. The event also helped Indonesia shine at the global level.
Indonesia’s G20 presidency resulted in a number of agreements, with the most important one being the declaration of the G20 leaders, or the G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration, whose release was initially held in doubt by many parties.
The declaration consisted of 52 paragraphs, and one paragraph, which reflected the G20 stance toward the war in Ukraine, was highly debated.
Even though the discussion regarding the war in Ukraine was very tough, in the end, the G20 leaders agreed to the contents of the declaration, namely the condemnation of the war in Ukraine since it violated territorial boundaries and territorial integrity.
The war caused people to suffer and worsened the global economy, which was still fragile due to the pandemic, and led to a food crisis, energy crisis, and potential financial crisis.
Besides the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration, the summit also resulted in several concrete outcomes, namely on the formation of a pandemic fund, the formation and the operation of a resilience and sustainability trust (RST) under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for countries facing crises, as well as the energy transition mechanism, under which Indonesia also received a commitment of US$20 billion from the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).
The summit also resulted in a joint commitment to protect at least 30 percent of the world’s land and 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030. The commitment will continue the pledge to reduce land degradation by 50 percent by 2040 voluntarily.
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Calling for an end to war
Among the things that received huge attention were Indonesia's efforts, especially President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)’s, for ending the Russia-Ukraine war during Indonesia’s G20 Presidency.
Indeed, Indonesia’s G20 presidency discussed the impact of war on global economic conditions quite intensively since the war between Ukraine and Russia greatly affected the implementation of the G20 results, especially those concerning the global economy. In addition, the war also proved to be difficult for all countries, not only G20 members.
Efforts to reconcile Ukraine and Russia were carried out directly by President Widodo on several occasions.
The steps taken by Indonesia to reconcile Ukraine and Russia were in line with the mandate of the 1945 Constitution, which holds independence as the right of all nations.
In fact, the efforts were carried out long before the opening of the G20 Summit. President Widodo visited the two conflicting countries directly to pursue dialogue between their leaders and peace.
Efforts to promote peace were also carried out again and were highlighted at the G20 Summit Forum in Bali, including at the opening of the G20 Summit, during lunch with the leaders of the G20 delegations, and in the press statement after the summit ended.
What Indonesia has done in the series of G20 Summit agendas has proven the country’s mettle as a global negotiator.
The Indonesian government's diplomatic efforts have managed to convince other G20 countries that Indonesia is a trustworthy partner that wants to bridge differences. This could be seen from the 52 points of the G20’s Bali Leader's Declaration, which were arrived at through consensus.
One of the important points of the declaration was the agreement from G20 leaders regarding the importance of upholding international law and the multilateral system that maintains peace and stability.
The agreement to uphold multilateralism cannot be separated from the success of multilateralism for more than seven decades, which has saved the world from the tragedy of a world war and has helped the global community to recover from the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.
The success of Indonesia's G20 Presidency has increasingly brought respect for Indonesia in the eyes of the international community.
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G20 Summit impact
Indonesia’s Presidency also had a positive impact on the nation. Besides generating cooperation on global health resilience systems and the harmonization of global health protocol standards, the summit also forged cooperation in the development of study centers as well as manufacturing for prevention, preparation, and response to future health crises.
In the energy sector, the Energy Transition Ministerial Meeting (ETMM) during the summit produced an agreement to catalyze inclusive and sustainable investment on a large scale toward a net-zero emissions energy system as well as collaboration for mobilizing all funding sources to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in 2030.
The implementation of the summit also awakened the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector and the Indonesian tourism sector since the event involved various MSMEs in hundreds of G20 side events. Tourism promotion was also intensively carried out during the Indonesian G20 series.
Besides producing a number of formal interstate cooperations, the G20 Summit also succeeded in becoming a showcase for marketing MSME products and promoting tourism in the future.
After the implementation of the G20 Summit, the number of foreign tourist visits to Indonesia has been reported to have continued to increase, in line with the sloping COVID-19 cases in the country.
In addition, the summit has also opened more investment opportunities in Indonesia, with more potential investors considering Indonesia as a country with bright potential in the near future. This has been strengthened by the issuance of a number of supporting regulations that can help potential investors to invest in the country.
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Translator: Rangga Pandu A J, Resinta S
Editor: Suharto
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