G20 Bali Summit Ends With Commitment To Address Serious Economic Challenges

JAKARTA, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- The G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia ended on Wednesday with the adoption of a declaration reaffirming commitment to cooperate in addressing serious global economic challenges. G20 leaders said the devastation brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change has caused economic downturn, increased poverty, slowed global recovery and hindered the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Most members “strongly condemned” the war in Ukraine as it caused “immense human suffering and exacerbated existing fragilities in the global economy, constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks”. As there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions, members recognised that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, which could have significant consequences for the global economy. Leaders stressed the crucial role of upholding international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability, noting that “the use or threat of using nuclear weapons is inadmissible”. “The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today’s era must not be of war,” the declaration read. G20 also pledged to address challenges through international macro policy cooperation and concrete collaborations in line with the Indonesian G20 Presidency theme, ‘Recover Together, Recover Stronger’. In his opening speech on Tuesday, President Joko Widodo firmly requested the leaders of G20 to end the war in Ukraine. As the group’s summit ends for this year, Indonesia officially hands over the presidency for the coming year to India. -- BERNAMA