G20 finance chiefs tackle food security; Ukraine war prevents official statement

Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies pledged Saturday to tackle global food insecurity and mounting debt, but made little political progress amid divisions over Russia’s war in Ukraine at a two-party meeting. days in Indonesia.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said differences had prevented finance ministers and central bankers from issuing a formal statement, but that the group had a “strong consensus” on the need to address a security crisis. food that is getting worse.

The host, Indonesia, will issue a presidential statement instead. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said most of the issues were agreed upon by all members, except for particular statements on the war in Ukraine.

He described it as the “best result” the group could have achieved at this meeting.

Western countries have applied strict sanctions against Russia, which says it is carrying out a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Other G20 countries, such as China, India and South Africa, have been more muted in their response.

“This is a difficult time because Russia is part of the G20 and disagrees with the rest of us on how to characterize the war,” Yellen said, but stressed that disagreement should not impede progress on pressing global issues.

The Russian Finance Minister attended the meeting virtually, while his deputy did so in person. Ukraine’s finance minister virtually intervened in the session, where he called for “tighter, more severe sanctions.”

Sri Mulyani of Indonesia said that while chairing a fractured G20 has been “quite daunting” due to the war in Ukraine, all members agreed that food insecurity requires special attention and called for the removal of trade protections that impede the flow of food supplies.

The G20 will create a joint forum between finance and agriculture ministers to address the issue of food and fertilizer supplies. A similar forum has been created for finance and health ministers for pandemic preparedness.

Analysts say the inability to agree on a statement reflects the weakness of the once powerful economic grouping.

“We are at a rudderless moment in the world economy, with the G20 paralyzed by Putin’s war and the G7 unable to lead on global public goods,” said Kevin Gallagher, who directs the Center for Global Development Policy at the University of Boston.

G20 members came together at the start of the pandemic, but efforts to cushion the impact on heavily indebted poor countries failed to deliver significant results.

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