President Goes To France for G-20 Meetings

What's the G-20?
The Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G-20, G20, Group of Twenty) is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies: 19 countries plus the European Union, which is represented by the President of the European Council and by the European Central Bank. Their heads of government or heads of state have also periodically conferred at summits since their initial meeting in 2008. Collectively, the G-20 economies comprise more than 80 percent of the world's GDP, 85 percent of global gross national product, 80 percent of world trade (including EU intra-trade) and two-thirds of the world population. They contribute to 84.1 percent and 82.2 percent of the world's economic growth by nominal GDP and GDP (PPP) respectively from the years 2010 to 2016 according to International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The G-20 was proposed by former Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin (later, Prime Minister) for cooperation and consultation on matters pertaining to the international financial system. It studies, reviews, and promotes discussion (among key industrial and emerging market countries) of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability, and seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization. With the G-20 growing in stature since the 2008 Washington summit, its leaders announced on September 25, 2009, that the group will replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations.

The heads of the G-20 nations have met semi-annually at G-20 summits since 2008. The most recent was held in Seoul on November 11–12, 2010. Starting in 2011, G-20 summits will be held annually.

Organization
The G-20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The chair rotates annually among the members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries. The chair is part of a revolving three-member management group of past, present and future chairs referred to as the Troika. The incumbent chair establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration of its term, which coordinates the group's work and organizes its meetings. The role of the Troika is to ensure continuity in the G-20's work and management across host years. The current chair of G20 is France; it was handed over from South Korea after the G20 Summit during November 2010.

Proposed permanent secretariat
In 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed that a permanent secretariat of the G-20 should be established. Seoul and Paris were suggested as possible locations for its headquarters. China and Brazil supported the establishment of a secretariat, while Japan and Italy opposed such an innovation. South Korea proposed a "cyber secretariat" as an alternative.

Role of Asian countries
According to a report released by Asian Development Bank, it says that Asia will play more important role in the process of global economic governance reform. The report states that the rise of emerging market economies heralds a new world order, in which the G20 has become the global economic steering committee.

The report noted that Asia has led the global recovery and the region will have bigger voice on the global stage, such as shaping the G20 agenda for balanced and sustainable growth through strengthening intraregional trade and stimulating domestic demand.


Member countries and organizations
In 2011, there are 20 members of the G-20. These include, at the leaders summits, the leaders of 19 countries and of the European Union, and, at the ministerial-level meetings, the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries and of the European Union. In addition, Spain and the Netherlands took part in the last four G-20 heads of state meetings despite not being recognized members.

Critiques
Exclusivity of membership
Although the G20 has stated that the group's "economic weight and broad membership gives it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy and financial system," its legitimacy has been challenged. With respect to the membership issue, U.S. President Barack Obama has noted the difficulty of pleasing everyone: "everybody wants the smallest possible group that includes them. So, if they're the 21st largest nation in the world, they want the G-21, and think it's highly unfair if they have been cut out."

Norwegian perspective
In an interview with Der Spiegel, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the G-20 "one of the greatest setbacks since World War II." Although Norway is the largest contributor to development programs in the World Bank and United Nations, it is not a member of the E.U. and thus not represented in the G-20 even indirectly.

Norway, like the other 170 nations not among the G-20, has little or no voice within the group. Støre characterized the G-20 as a "self-appointment group", arguing that it undermines the legitimacy of organizations set up in the aftermath of World War II, organizations like the IMF, World Bank and United Nations:

"The G-20 is a self-appointed group. Its composition is determined by the major countries and powers. It may be more representative than the G-7 or the G-8, in which only the richest countries are represented, but it is still arbitrary. We no longer live in the 19th century, a time when the major powers met and redrew the map of the world. No one needs a new Congress of Vienna."

Global Governance Group (3G) response
According to Singapore's representative to the United Nations, UN members who are not G20 members have responded to the G20's exclusivity by either reacting with indifference, refusing to acknowledge the G20's legitimacy, or accepting that the G20 will be the premier forum for international economic cooperation going forward but hoping to "engage the G-20 as the latter continues to evolve so that our interests are taken on board."

Out of this latter group Singapore has taken a leading role in organizing an informal "Global Governance Group" of 28 non-G20 countries, with the idea being that by working collectively they might channel their views into the G20 process more effectively. Singapore's chairing of the Global Governance Group was cited as a rationale for inviting Singapore to the November 2010 G20 Summit in South Korea.[37]

Concerns
The G20's transparency has also been questioned by critics who call attention to the absence of a charter and the fact that the most important meetings are closed-door. Critics propose an alternative such as an Economic Security Council within the United Nations, where members should be elected by the General Assembly based on their importance in the world economy and the contribution they are willing to provide to world economic development.

The cost and extent of summit-related security is often a contentious issue in the hosting country and G-20 summits have attracted protesters from a variety of backgrounds, including anarchists, anti-capitalists and nationalists.