G20 summit in London

THE meeting of world leaders at the G20 summit that kicked off yesterday in London comes at a crucial moment for the global economy, and we hold out hope that it will help pull the world out of the global depression into which it has been plunged, or, at least, that it will set in place steps that will allow for an eventual turn-around and recovery.

We are hopeful about the summit for two reasons: the first of these is that it is a meeting of the G20 rather than the traditional G8, a long overdue recognition of the fact that the BRIC countries, and others, also are deserving of a seat at the table, and so it is not just a meeting of the highly industrialised western countries dictating terms for the rest of the world to follow.

The second reason we are hopeful is that the stated objective of the meeting is to bring the world's biggest economies together to help restore global economic growth through enhanced international co-ordination.

In other words, the world powers have apparently recognised the reality that the current economic crisis is something that has far-reaching effects, and that the only way out of it is for coordinated action.

Co-operation will indeed be the key to ensure that countries do not employ self-defeating beggar-thy-neighbour or race-to-the-bottom strategies to cope with the downturn.

Prior to the summit, the participating world leaders have pledged to take whatever action is necessary to stabilise the financial markets, to reform and strengthen the global financial and economic system in order to restore confidence and trust, and to put the global economy on track for sustainable growth, high levels of employment and poverty reduction. This is the approach necessary at the present moment, and we are especially gratified to note the focus on poverty reduction as a desired outcome of the summit.

The rhetoric, in advance of the summit, thus hit all the right notes. Our concern is that with the summit getting underway the earlier commitments and priorities will be maintained and the cooperation that is necessary to move forward and has been pledged will be there in actuality when the time comes to implement the recommendations that come out of the summit.

One discordant note is that the summit would have been enhanced further had there been a representative from the LDC countries, which would have further democratised the proceedings and ensured that the interests of hundreds of millions of the poorest of the poor were represented. Let us hope their absence from the table does not signify that their concerns will be neglected.