The G20 consists of the world's twenty most important economies who make up roughly 83% of the world's total GDP. The mandate of the G20 is to come together and collaborate on creating a global financial system that is secure and sustainable. The group was established in the early 1990's amid the Asian financial crisis, however, the G20 did not really gain steam or any public attention until 2008 when George W. Bush called on all the financial ministers of the world's top 20 economies for a meeting in Washington to help avoid another depression.
Although the mandate of the G20 is mainly focused on creating sustainable financial platforms and ensuring future stability worldwide, many more issues are to be tackled. In my opinion, when you group twenty leaders from the world's top economies, many non-financial issues will come to the forefront and dialogue will be initiated in order to find ways to tackle them. Said issues can range from anything regarding climate change, the Arab spring, democracy, youth employment etc.
In 2008, amid a global financial meltdown, Canada remained extremely strong and weathered the storm very effectively. While the American's were suffering from a pneumonia, we merely caught a cold and this was due to the conservative lending practices of our banks and the sound financial governance our country possesses.
As a Canadian, I expect our team to play a significant role in the discussions that are to take place throughout the summit. For far too long Canada has had little visibility worldwide and few have recognized our leadership potential, however, I believe our resilience throughout the financial crisis is demonstrative of the significant role we will play in the global arena in the future.
What do you think? What are your thoughts on the G20 meeting as a whole? Should more countries be involved?
