Heated Debate Colors G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration
Geopolitical tensions between the world’s superpowers had previously hampered the adoption of a Leaders’ Declaration. Consistency, hard work and trust in Indonesia led to finding common ground.
President Joko Widodo (middle) handovers the G20 Presidency to Prime Minister of India Narendra Damodardas Modi (left) at the closing of Working Session 3 of the 2022 Indonesia's G20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Wednesday, Nov, 16, 2022.
NUSA DUA, KOMPAS – After a long and complicated debate, Indonesia’s 2022 Group of 20 Presidency has finally succeeded in reaching a mutually agreed-upon declaration. Doubts that a collective agreement could be reached were dispelled. While concluding the G20 Summit in Bali on Wednesday (16/11/2022), President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that Indonesia’s G20 presidency began with shared hopes and intentions to realize the world’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in an inclusive manner.
President Jokowi appreciated the adoption of the Leaders’ Declaration, which he deemed an extraordinary success from various joint efforts.
“This is the first [Leaders’] Declaration that has been adopted since February 2022. I express my greatest appreciation so that the [Leaders’] Declaration can be agreed upon and ratified,” said President Jokowi.
The President said, amid current geopolitical tensions, many parties initially doubted that a Leaders’ Declaration could be made during Indonesia’s G20 presidency. The Leaders’ Declaration, consisting of 52 paragraphs, had fueled heated debate, especially over paragraphs related to attitudes toward the war in Ukraine.
“Discussions on that matter were very tough but finally, G20 leaders agreed on a [Leaders’] Declaration, namely the condemnation of war in Ukraine because it violates regional boundaries,” said President Jokowi.
The diplomacy process was carried out in a marathon. “We discussed this until midnight and finally, the Bali [Leaders’] Declaration reached a consensus. We agreed that war has a negative impact on the global economy. And, there was a Russian representative present at the summit as well. Even though it was tough, [the Leaders’ Declaration] has been ratified,” said President Jokowi.
The paragraph in question was the third paragraph. The paragraph states that most of the members condemned the war in Ukraine. The war has caused suffering and exacerbated an already-fragile global economy.
It was also stated that the G20 is not a forum for solving security issues. However, members recognize that security issues could have significant ramifications for the global economy.
President Jokowi also emphasized that the G20 is an economic forum, not a political forum. Thus, this forum should not have to be associated with global political conditions. According to the President, global economic recovery cannot be achieved without peace.
We tried to tackle it one-by-one, by using long-standing diplomatic assets. This is the trust that has always been the color of Indonesia: to bridge all differences, however deep and wide
Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi added that negotiation to reach the Leaders’ Declaration agreement was no easy task. The foreign inter-ministerial community discussed it intensively, especially in the days leading up to the G20 Summit. The success of this Leaders’ Declaration is inextricably linked to the trust of all G20 countries in Indonesia.
“We tried to tackle it one-by-one, by using long-standing diplomatic assets. This is the trust that has always been the color of Indonesia: to bridge all differences, however deep and wide,” said Retno.
She added that although agreements on paragraphs related to geopolitical issues were the hardest to achieve, this did not mean that other paragraphs were easy to agree on.
AP/POOL/MAST IRHAM
From left, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, U.S. President Joe Biden, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Mathias Cormann and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attend a mangrove planting event at the Tahura Ngurah Rai Mangrove Forest Park as part of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, Indonesia, 16 November 2022.
Tough
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak separately expressed the toughness of discussing the Leaders’ Declaration. According to them, every country knew from the beginning that it would not be easy to issue a joint Leaders’ Declaration among the G20 leaders.
Trudeau said the G20 forum was different from other forums, such as the G7, wherein all members had aligned perspectives. “Even under normal circumstances, efforts to reach a consensus at the G20 are not easy, especially now when there are many serious issues affecting global politics and the economy,” he said.
Trudeau appreciated the Indonesian presidency and President Jokowi’s leadership for being able to bring together different interests. “It is not easy to produce a text … that can be accepted by all G20 member countries, then have it mutually agreed upon as a strong statement, as seen in the Bali [Leaders’] Declaration,” he said.
Trudeau deemed that the Leaders’ Declaration produced during the Indonesian presidency was one of the most ambitious at the G20 event. Though the implementation and concrete actions that have been agreed upon are overshadowed by heated geopolitical conditions and the threat of a global recession, he believes G20 countries are still committed to carrying them out.
“President Jokowi has set very high and ambitious targets. However, this is how it should be, especially when responding to today’s global challenges,” Trudeau said.
Heated
As Prime Minister Trudeau said, Sunak also admitted that many parties were skeptical from the start, especially since the world’s situation is complicated. He described the room of the summit to be heated.
Sunak said that as soon as the summit was opened by President Jokowi on Tuesday (5/11), he and the leaders of the seven richest countries in the world (G7) as well as their allies “ganged up” on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This made the first session tense and lasted longer than scheduled.
The United Kingdom promised to strengthen coordination and cooperation in overcoming the recession, regardless of each other’s political standing
After that, during session two, the discussion was more fluid and straightforward because it concerned universal issues, such as global-health architecture, inflation, the food crisis as well as the transition to renewable energy. “You can see the spirit of this summit. We condemn the actions of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, but we can still sit together to discuss global obstacles,” said Sunak.
According to him, the resulting Leaders’ Declaration is good because it is action-oriented. The discussion on economic issues and renewable energy is clear. Commitments to overcome the food crisis were also emphasized by encouraging open taps for importing grain and fertilizer from Russia and Ukraine.
“Most of the G20 countries experienced inflation of more than 7 percent. The United Kingdom promised to strengthen coordination and cooperation in overcoming the recession, regardless of each other’s political standing,” said Sunak.
