G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting | 01 Jul 2021

Why in News

Recently, Italy hosted the G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting to discuss the fight against Covid-19 and how to speed up the recovery of the global economy and boost sustainable development in Africa.

  • Currently, Italy holds the presidency of G-20. The G-20 summit is scheduled to be held in Italy in October, 2021.
  • India is expected to hold the presidency of the G-20 in 2023.

G-20

  • The G20 is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
  • The G20 membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, representing about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, 80% of global investment and over 75% of global trade.
  • The members of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
  • It does not have any permanent secretariat or headquarters.

Key Points

  • About the Meeting:
    • On Covid-19:
      • Criticized China and Russia for engaging in vaccine diplomacy.
        • Vaccine diplomacy is the branch of global health diplomacy in which a nation uses the development or delivery of vaccines to strengthen ties with other nations.
      • Promoting a science-based holistic One Health approach.
        • 'One Health' is an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes.
    • On Climate Change:
      • Increased climate variability and extreme weather events impact agriculture output and are among the forces driving the rise in global hunger.
    • On Africa:
      • The Covid-19 pandemic, conflict, drought, economic woes, and extreme weather are reversing years of progress.
      • In the whole of Africa, 250 million people were experiencing hunger, which is nearly 20% of the population (as of 2019).
  • India’s Stand:
    • Flagged the issue of “vaccine equity”.
      • This came in the wake of the European Union’s (EU) opposition to India’s and South Africa’s proposal to increase large-scale manufacturing of vaccines by waiving some parts of the intellectual property rules under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).
      • These rules prevent international firms with the capacity to produce approved vaccinations owing to issues with licencing.
    • Economy needs decentralised globalisation, including in manufacturing, food and health. Resilient supply chains must develop in parallel.
      • Today, the world is much more interlinked and interdependent. But it should not be that globalisation should apply only to resources and markets while production centres remain concentrated in the hands of a few.
      • Many countries, including India, faced difficulties getting medical equipment during the pandemic and faced disruption in a number of areas - such as a computer chip shortage and stalling automobile production.
  • Vaccine Equity:
    • About:
      • It entails both affordability of vaccines and access opportunities for populations across the world, irrespective of geography and geopolitics.
    • Need:
      • Inequitable vaccine distribution is not only leaving untold millions of people vulnerable to the virus but also allowing deadly variants to emerge and bounce back across the world.
      • As variants continue to spread, even countries with advanced vaccination programs have been forced to reimpose stricter public health measures, and some have implemented travel restrictions.
    • Initiative to Ensure Vaccine Equity:
      • COVAX: It is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines led by UNICEF, Gavi (The Vaccine Alliance), the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and others.
      • India also began its ‘Vaccine Maitri’ to supply Covid vaccine to different nations.

Source: IE