Expert's Comment - 28 September 2009
Paola Subacchi, Research Director, International Economics
It was feared to signal a loss of momentum, but the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh started with a bang and ended up covering a huge amount of ground.
Earlier than expected President Obama revealed his preferences for the future outlook of global economic governance. He put on the table two of the issues which had been looming for some time. The first is the recognition of the G20 as the permanent forum for international cooperation and the second the reform of the IMF board.
These two issues are implicitly related, as they both recognize that the balance of power needs to be tilted towards the new rising powers. Streamlining the G process - something which President Obama had hinted at during this year's G8 in Italy - and shifting responsibilities from the G8 to the G20 would imply a dilution of influence for some of the G8 countries, in particular Italy and Canada, and to some extent Japan at the regional level.
See full Article.
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