Yahoo Finance 4 things that will be talked about at the G20
This year’s G20 summit will centre around the theme of ‘a fair and sustainable future’, but that doesn’t mean the official agenda items will be the only topics up for discussion.
Within the closed-door discussions at the G20 (Group of 20) summit, hosted in Buenos Aires this year, heads of state will be locking horns across a number of issues.
Here are four things UNSW Institute of Global Finance director Fariborz Moshirian anticipates could emerge across the two-day international forum.
US-China trade talks will ramp up.
“The IMF itself has stated that the ongoing trade tensions through Chinese-American relationships and the possibility of Brexit would hurt the global economy,” Moshirian noted.
“Trump will be having a dinner with Jinping at the upcoming gathering in an attempt to work out a trade deal. However, at this stage, Trump also states that he is still likely to increase tariffs to 25 per cent (currently 10 per cent) on $200 billion of various Chinese imports.”
The European Union wants a fair playing field.
“In an open letter, [European Council president Donald] Tusk and [European Commission president Jean-Claude] Juncker state that they want to use the summit as an opportunity to discuss issues concerning global confidence, fair globalisation and trade, and climate change.
“They want to focus on making growth more inclusive, and to ensure that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rulebook is updated to meet present challenges. The EU pushes for reforms of the WTO’s function to ensure a level playing field in trade.”
How to make work, development and education fairer for everyone
“This is important because of the rapid pace of technological change,” Moshirian said. “Technology is good because it is an opportunity for fair and sustainable development, but it can also put pressure on employment, welfare and education agendas.
“I would argue that the discussion should be focused on creating the conditions for better and fairer work. Education is of particular importance here, as it is only in investing in human capital that humans can be empowered.”
How to bridge the infrastructure gap
“Currently, there is less money invested in infrastructure than needs to be; the global infrastructure gap is predicted to be USD $5.5 trillion from here to 2030. Private investors will be able to help make up this difference.
“Therefore, discussion is centred upon how to incentivise private investors to invest in infrastructure by developing it into a more preferable asset class.
“Addressing the challenges of the current global governance system and creating a far more effective global governance structure should be amongst the top priorities of the G20 leaders”.
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