Relaunching the G20

Australia and the world needs a focused and effective G20. But the forum is in danger of losing its way. This Analysis identifies nine key lessons from the G20’s history that can help relaunch it. This should be Australia’s goal when it chairs the G20 in 2014.Key findings:Drawing on nine lessons from previous summits on what works and what does not, the G20 needs an explicit multi-tracked approach. A wide range of issues should continue to be advanced in the G20, but leaders should focus on a few key issues where they can have an impact. Let the leaders lead. Given the vulnerabilities confronting the global economy, the priority should be on achieving sustainable economic and jobs growth

Trade and the G20

This publication examines international trade and the role of the G20. Key findings: If one of the main roles of the G20 is to be a circuit breaker in overcoming intractable international economic issues, multilateral trade liberalisation is a prime candidate for the G20’s attention. The record of the G20’s standstill on protection is mixed, particularly when it comes to the application of non-tariff barriers. But the G20’s record in helping to advance the conclusion of the Doha Round is poor. This has damaged the G20’s credibility on trade policy. Countries are withdrawing from ambitious attempts to open world markets in favour of pursuing preferential trade arrangements, particularly mega-regional agreements. This should be a concern for the G20. Trade policy needs to adapt to the reality that value chains are increasingly driving international trade. Goods are now made ‘in the world’. There are a number of things the G20 could do to support the multilateral trading system, including: putting trade at the heart of efforts to deliver economic and employment growth; extend and strengthen the standstill on protection; harvest what can be saved from the Doha Round; help bring the WTO trade policy agenda into the 21st century; advance plurilateral agreements; and seek to progressively align the modalities in the proposed mega trade agreements. Contributors include Mike Callaghan AM, Peter Gallagher, John Ravenhill, Mark Thirlwell and Brett Williams

Challenges facing the G20 in 2013

How the G20 responds to the challenges it faces will have an important bearing on future global economic prospects, argues this report. Key findings: Many are worried that the G20 ‘s agenda is expanding too widely and covering too many unrelated issues. It needs to get ‘back to basics’. Russia, as chair of the G20 in 2013, will need to focus on the critical issues confronting the global economy. Given a weak, unbalanced and vulnerable global economy, it is essential that the G20 give top priority to reinvigorating global growth. The economic ‘to-do’ list must include strengthening the process by which G20 members make policy commitments and are then held accountable for implementing these commitments, resisting protectionist pressures, and maintaining and expanding the multilateral trading system. Some see the priority for the G20 being on strengthening the role and resources of the IMF, enhancing the role of the financial stability Board and cementing accountability under the Mutual Assessment process. Another view is that there is a gap in the international governance architecture in the area of energy security and that this should be a focus of the G20. The view from non-G20 members is that the forum is not sufficiently representative but these countries are would be prepared to trade off inclusiveness for effectiveness. But G20 members are not acting in a way consistent with their role of providing global economic leadership. Authored by Mike Callaghan, Colin Bradford, Barry Carin, Dr David Skilling, and Mark Thirlwell

The G20 needs a growth strategy

In this Lowy Institute Policy Brief, Director of the G20 Studies Centre Mike Callaghan AM argues that the G20 needs to develop a comprehensive growth strategy to lift global growth and create jobs. Callaghan outlines the steps required to develop such a strategy by the Brisbane G20 Summit. Key findings: The G20 should develop a single, umbrella growth strategy. It should move away from the current preoccupation with ‘rebalancing’ growth and reducing external imbalances. The G20’s aim should be to lift the growth potential of all countries. Accompanying the G20 umbrella strategy, each G20 member should release their own plan to increase growth and create jobs in their own country, consistent with the umbrella strategy. The strategy must cover all aspects of policy – fiscal, monetary, financial regulation, structural, tax, trade and development. Draft growth strategies should be released for public comment prior to the Brisbane Summit

Playbook for the G20 Brisbane summit

Australia will chair the G20 for 12 months from 1 December 2013. It will be the largest international economic meeting ever held in Australia. This paper outlines the strategy, priorities and steps required for the Brisbane G20 summit to be a success – it is a ‘playbook’ for Australia’s G20 presidency.Key findings:For the Brisbane summit to be a success, Australia will need to improve the way the G20 works, define a focused agenda and directly engage leaders. A pragmatic, business-like approach is required. Priorities for the Brisbane leaders’ summit should include: developing a ‘G20 coordinated growth strategy’; breathing life back into the multilateral trading system; tackling climate change financing; delivering tangible progress in the international effort to combat tax evasion and avoidance; and, mainstreaming development into the G20 agenda. To achieve these outcomes will require a strategic game plan and a co-ordinated 12 month campaign, led by the Prime Minister and involving all aspects of Australian society

G20: dealing with too-big-to-fail banks, corporate tax avoidance, and development

Overview: This issue of the G20 Monitor addresses the ‘too big to fail’ dilemma of major financial institutions, combating tax evasion and avoidance through ‘base erosion and profit shifting’ (BEPS), and a report from the ‘G20 and Development’ conference hosted by the G20 Studies Centre and Griffith University. Key findings Systemic banking crises are rare, and their cost fades from memory, not least for policy-makers. The challenge is to establish a sensible trade-off between reducing the ex-post cost of TBTF, while minimising the ex-ante costs of doing so. A number of contradictions have emerged within the OECD-led push against Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) - the result of creative company tax strategies. These include: whether tax avoidance and evasion via international profit shifting and the use of tax havens is really all that new, how big the problem actually is, and what can meaningfully be done about it. The biggest contribution that the G20 can make to progressing the BEPS agenda may be in pushing for the ‘power of transparency in minimising aggressive tax planning strategies’

Development and the G20

This publication examines what role the G20 can play in international development. Key findings: Development is a key component of the G20, but there are concerns over the effectiveness of the current development agenda. The criticism includes that the development agenda is too diffuse and mostly distant to the G20’s main activities. But the G20 development agenda has made progress in some important areas, including increasing the resources of the international financial institutions, infrastructure, food security, financial inclusion and reducing the cost of remittances. However development and global economic issues cannot be treated in isolation; development must be ‘mainstreamed’ and clearly seen as part of the G20’s core agenda. To the extent that Australia can help strengthen the G20 when it assumes the chair in 2014, and make tangible progress in such areas as - economic growth, financial regulation, trade, financial inclusion, infrastructure and climate change financing – it can make a significant contribution to promoting development and reducing poverty. Authored by Mike Callaghan AM, Annmaree O’Keeffe AM, Robin Davies, Susan Harris Rimmer , Steve Price-Thomas, Sabina Curatolo, Julia Newton-Howes and Michelle Lettie

G20 2014: reform of the international organisations, financial regulation, trade, accountability and anti-corruption

This issue of the G20 Monitor discusses the reform of international economic institutions, financial regulation, and the trade, accountability and anti-corruption agendas at the forthcoming Brisbane G20 Summit. It also provides a summary of the key ideas from the ‘G20 Conference: Strengthening Accountability and Effectiveness’ hosted by the Lowy Institute. Key findings: If the G20 is truly to be the world’s premier forum for international economic cooperation, fostering the reform of international economic institutions needs to be a fundamental objective. Ex ante regulatory impact assessments are an important tool for strengthening financial regulation and fostering financial stability globally. Trade, anti-corruption, and the accountability of the G20 are important agenda items for the forthcoming Brisbane Summit and go to the heart of the G20’s aim to boost growth and resilience

G20 2014: perspectives from business, civil society, labour, think tanks and youth

This paper brings together policy contributions from a wide cross-section of society interested in feeding into the G20 process. Summary G20 engagement partners from Business (B20), Civil Society (C20), Labour (L20), Think Tanks (T20) and Youth (Y20) have each provided a contribution for this issue of the Monitor. Each address how the groups are organising their contribution to the G20 process in 2014, their priorities for the G20, and thoughts on what would constitute ‘success’ in terms of possible outcomes from the Brisbane Summit. The Australian G20 Sherpa, Heather Smith, has provided an opening comment. Key points One characteristic that all engagement partners share is their recognition of the importance of strengthening the G20. Through their engagement with the G20 presidency, the G20 engagement partners have an important role to play in communicating the G20’s work to the wider public for greater understanding. The engagement partners can use their networks to help convey what the G20 is doing, and why the involvement of the non-government sector is important

G20 2014: the G20 Brisbane Summit, inequality, energy and anti-corruption

The 12th edition of the G20 monitor contains an overview from John Lipsky on the G20’s role in global governance after the global financial crisis; a paper by Geoff Weir on the G20, Thomas Piketty, and inequality; thoughts from Hugh Jorgensen and Christian Downie on multilateral energy governance; and a piece by Charles Sampford on integrity and anti-corruption. Key findings Lipsky suggests the Brisbane Summit is a critical moment for the G20, if it does not restore a sense of political momentum to the process, the G20’s relevance will wane Ever-growing inequality is inconsistent with the maintenance of an inclusive, democratic system of governance. The G20 should consider a combination of taxation, education and health reforms to reduce inequality. The world needs better multilateral energy governance. Whether the conditions exist for the G20 to remedy this problem is unclear, but members should pursue energy governance mechanisms that promote trust