Last Friday and Saturday, on 7 and 8 July 2017, the G20 leaders met in Hamburg, Germany, in order to discuss « Shaping an Interconnected World », the main theme of this meeting. The G20 gathered 19 Countries, the European Union (being represented by the president of the European Council, Donald tusk and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker), as well as central banks and several guest nations. At the end of meeting, the leaders adopted a declaration in which they agreed on sharing the benefits of globalisation, building resilience, improving on a sustainable livelihood and assuming responsibility.

A number of different issues were discussed during these two days. Terrorism was one of the main issues alongside Energy and Climate change, Africa’s partnership and the Migration crisis. On terrorism, they adopted an action plan on July 7th in order to strengthen cooperation on this matter.

Regarding climate change, they also adopted an action plan in which they agreed on the need for a common, global action. On the matter of the United State’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015, they all took note of this decision, but stated that this agreement was « irreversible » and outlined the need for a strong commitment to this Agreement.

Migration was one of the main topics upon which the G20 leaders agreed. For the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, this issue should not be overlooked. Indeed, as he stated a the press conference before the G20, « the situation on the Central Mediterranean route, that is from Libya to Italy, still remains critical. Our objective should be to effectively stop this wave at its source, namely north Africa ». He recalled the need to fight against human smuggling which is « an organized business », that has « generated 1.6 billion dollars in Libya alone » in the last year. Donald Tusk also undermined the fact « these profits allow the smugglers to control some parts of the country. they also cooperate with terrorists and further undermine the stabilisation in Libya ». All these reasons led to an understanding among G20 leaders regarding the need for better coordination at an international level to fight against smugglers and traffickers.

Finally, the development of Africa was also a central issue in this 2017 G20. The G20 Africa partnership was adopted in order to develop the continent’s economy and increase employment levels.

Every year G20 leaders meet in order to develop a dialogue between countries at an international level. The next G20 summit will be held in Argentina in 2018.

Alice Poidevin

Sources:

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/international-summit/2017/07/07-08/

G20 Leaders’ Declaration, Shaping an interconnected world, Hamburg 7/8 July 2017