G20 foreign ministers are meeting in Indonesia today to discuss the impact on the global economy of the war in Ukraine and ways to respond to the food and energy crisis, the consequences of which could be “catastrophic”.
“The world is watching us,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia’s finance minister, urging participants to adopt an attitude of “cooperation”.
“The price of a failure to agree is higher than we can afford,” he warned. “The humanitarian impact for many low-income countries will be devastating.”
The two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs is taking place in Bali, a week after the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting sent a strong message to Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Initially the discussions were planned to be about the best way to return to growth after the covid-19 pandemic, but the effects of the war in Ukraine, with the energy and food crisis, ended up at the top of the agenda.
New confrontation
The meeting is expected to be the occasion for a new confrontation between the West, which blames the current economic problems on Moscow, and developing countries that oppose the imposition of sanctions on Russia, led by China.
Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is originally from Ukraine, accused the Russian delegation of committing “war crimes” for supporting the invasion of Ukraine, a Canadian official said.
“It is not only the generals who commit crimes, but also the technocrats of the economy who make war possible and allow it to continue,” he explained.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will participate online in the meeting, while his Ukrainian counterpart Sergei Marchenko has also been invited to speak via video link.
Yesterday Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen estimated that “the biggest challenge” to the world economy comes from the war in Ukraine, stressing that “representatives of the Putin regime should have no place in this forum.”
Italian Economy Minister Daniel Franco stressed that the G20 “must play a key role in order to prevent food insecurity from turning into a humanitarian crisis”.
As there is no agreement between the countries on the causes of the economic problems and on the responsibility of Russia, the issuance of a joint communiqué remains uncertain.
Indonesia, the country hosting the G20 this year, wanted to remain neutral and did not bow to Western pressure to exclude Russia from the summit.
However, there are quite a few absentees, as many countries sent lower-ranking delegations.
In addition, the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, will participate via video link, as will the finance ministers of China and Brazil, while the president of the World Bank, David Malpass, will be absent.
SOURCE: APE-ME
Source: Capital
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