How Responsive is the G20 to Sustainable Development?
A series of financial crises in Asia during the 1990s exposed the structural vulnerabilities of the global financial system. The Group of Eight (G8), consisting of the world’s wealthiest economies, then recognised the importance of including emerging economies in the management of the global economy through cooperation and collective action. Thus, in 1999, the Group of Twenty (G20) was established as a forum for informal dialogue among finance ministers and central bank governors of 20 major economies along with the Bretton Woods Institutions (the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank). This formation was critical as it signalled a decisive shift in North-South cooperation. It flagged the relevance of emerging economies of the global South and their potential to alter the geopolitical landscape and influence the discourse on global governance reforms.
