G20 Top Diplomats Meet in Indonesia, Seek Common Approaches to Food & Energy Crises

Top diplomats from the Group of Twenty (G20) nations gathered in Indonesia this week to discuss multilateralism and food security, as well as bilateral topics.

Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and for many G20 member countries it was hard to maintain balance at the meeting, caught between the anti-Russian position of the Western nations on the topic of Ukraine, and the neutral attitude of Moscow’s allies from the developing world.

The Mulia Bali resort is tucked away amidst the lush greenery of the island’s Nusa Dua district, making it a perfect vacation spot, but on July 7 and 8 the venue opened its doors for a major international diplomatic meeting. The first day was chiefly dedicated to bilateral talks, while the main public sessions were scheduled for Friday.

While the original plan for Indonesia was to make the post-pandemic economic recovery one of the main themes of the country’s G20 presidency in general and at the top diplomats’ meeting in particular, the situation in Ukraine, as well as political instability in some countries such as the UK have led to the need for organizers to make amendments to the agenda.

Food insecurity and the energy crisis have become key topics during the foreign ministers meeting’s main session.

Other events have played a role as well. British foreign secretary Liz Truss had to cut short her visit to Indonesia, leaving before the session had even begun, likely because of Boris Johnson’s resignation, with many international media outlets switching from the G20 agenda to the UK political crisis.

Despite calls from the West to isolate Russia and to ban Moscow from G20 meetings this year, Indonesia maintained an independent position on the issue, inviting Russia’s top officials to both the ministerial meeting and to the leaders’ summit, scheduled for November.

While Western diplomats preferred to avoid direct contact with the Russian delegation, and even called for the cancellation of the traditional group photo, Sergei Lavrov’s talks with representatives of fellow G20 and BRICS members were held in a friendly atmosphere.

While the G7 countries (most of them well-developed pro-Western nations and Russia’s opponents on the issue of Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine) are also part of the G20, the forum also has pro-Russian and neutral members – mostly developing nations. The organizers of the Bali meeting had to figure out how to prevent confrontations between these parties at the event.

Since both plenary sessions on Friday were held behind closed doors, it’s hard to say whether the organizers succeeded in making the conversation truly constructive.

There were numerous accusations voiced by Western diplomats against Moscow, reportedly calling Russians “aggressors” and “occupants”, but G20 is clearly now more diverse than just Washington and its allies, and not everyone supported these allegations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, while speaking on Friday to journalists, noted that during the discussions "the Western partners avoided to follow the mandate of the Group of Twenty to address the global economy issues, and to reach agreements to find solutions related to sustainable development within the UN."

"They have no answers to these questions, there is only blatant Russophobia, which they substitute for the necessity to negotiate key problems in the global economy and finance," Lavrov pointed out, describing the Western partners' reaction to a slate of questions raised by the Russian side during the meeting.

Despite all the attempts of the US and its allies to politicize the G20, which was created originally as an economic forum, apparently the group still has the power to focus mainly on its declared goals. Even though it's not easy for members to work together at the moment, it seems that they may very well return to "business as usual" attitude over time.

Some observers, such as the director and founder of the Toronto-based G20 Research Group John Kirton are optimistic about the forum’s ability to solve serious economic issues. He told Sputnik that not even the most powerful members of G20 are able to overcome big challenges on their own, but common approach has helped both G7 and G20 nations immensely in the past:

“They learned this the hard way, first with the Asian-turned-global financial crisis from 1997 to 2021, then with the bigger, broader, faster, deeper American-turned-global-financial crisis of 2008-2010, and finally the European financial crisis from 2010-2012,” says Kirton. “The first spurred the creation of the G20 at the level of financial ministers and central bank governors in 1999. The second catalyzed its elevation to the leaders’ level in 2008. And the third showed that the powerful countries of the European Union could not solve their crisis with on their own regional club. The G20 summits successfully solved the second two crises by 2012 and prevented other ones from erupting for the following decade.”

According to the researcher, today’s problems may also be approached by the member nations in the same manner:

“Given this success, today’s G20 leaders have every reason to co-operate within the G20 to stop the current financial crises that are starting to appear - within Europe from Italy, from Asia with China’s slowing growth and financial fragilities in its real estate sector, and from the Middle East with Turkey’s soaring inflation.”

G20 is an economic forum consisting of major developed and emerging economies, among them Russia, the US, Turkey, Mexico, Great Britain, India, China, Indonesia, as well as other nations. Together, the G20 members represent more than 80 percent of world GDP, 75 percent of international trade and 60 percent of the world population.

In 2021 Indonesia is holding the G20 presidency, with the forum’s leaders’ summit scheduled for November.