The Global Governance Group (3G)[1], held its 15th Ministerial Meeting in New York on 21 September 2022 on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). At the 3G’s invitation, the G20 Troika (previous, present and incoming Presidencies) – Italy, Indonesia and India – joined the 3G Foreign Ministers to discuss ways to strengthen multilateralism and international cooperation in the face of unprecedented global challenges today. The 3G convenes this annual meeting with the G20 Troika to promote a more inclusive, accountable and effective global governance framework.
Indonesia, in its capacity as the 2022 G20 Presidency, updated the 3G Ministers on the progress made at key G20 meetings thus far, as well as deliverables for the G20 Summit in Bali on 15 and 16 November 2022. The 3G Ministers welcomed Indonesia’s salient G20 Presidency agenda centred on three thematic pillars: “Global Health Architecture”, “Sustainable Energy Transition” and “Digital Transformation”, under the theme of “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”. The 3G Ministers commended Indonesia’s leadership in spearheading the G20’s response to myriad challenges facing the international community today, including food and energy insecurity, climate change, rising inflation and supply chain disruption. The 3G Ministers welcomed, inter alia, the good progress in the various G20 tracks and working groups, as well as the G20’s commitment to promote sustainable and inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery and development, including by addressing climate change, leveraging digitalisation, supporting the clean energy transition, narrowing the global development gap, and accelerating the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a focus on developing and vulnerable countries.
Geopolitical developments and conflicts have placed the multilateral system and its institutions under tremendous strain. In this regard, the 3G Ministers expressed their unequivocal and unwavering support for an inclusive and rules-based multilateral system with the UN at its core. They reaffirmed, inter alia, the UN Charter’s principles of sovereign equality and peaceful settlement of disputes, as well as the essentiality of dialogue and diplomacy to solve disputes without armed conflict.
The 3G Ministers expressed concern over global supply chain disruptions and rising protectionist tendencies, which will continue to hamper the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. They stressed the need to ensure the resilience and sustainability of supply chain and emphasised the continued importance of promoting and abiding by an open, predictable, rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system underpinned by the World Trade Organization (WTO), to ensure unimpeded cross-border flows of essential goods, including food, energy, vaccines and medicines. The 3G Ministers welcomed, inter alia, the G20’s commitment made at the G20 Digital Ministers’ Meeting on 1 September 2022 to leverage digitalisation for a stronger, inclusive and collaborative post-pandemic global economic order. They also welcomed the continued support to all vulnerable countries, expressed during the Third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting on 15-16 July 2022, to ensure that we all recover together and stronger, including the call for further pledges of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) or equivalent voluntary contributions, for recommendations to unlock significant amounts of development financing through Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and for multilateral coordination to take swift action to respond to countries’ requests for debt treatment.
The 3G Ministers reiterated the need for continued efforts to strengthen global pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, including by improving national health systems and health infrastructure, ensuring safe, affordable and equitable vaccine access for all, and expanding vaccine production globally, including in developing countries, through appropriate dissemination of technology and know-how in accordance with World Trade Organization rules. They applauded the establishment of a Financial Intermediary Fund for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response hosted by the World Bank, which built on the strong foundation laid by the 2021 Italian G20 Presidency on the issue and the work of the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. The 3G Ministers reiterated their support for multilateral initiatives that facilitated the achievements towards reaching these aims, such as the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) and the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).
The 3G Ministers welcomed the G20’s continued engagement of non-G20 members, such as the 3G, to strengthen multilateralism and global governance by opening up the G20 process to diverse voices from across the UN membership. As Indonesia continues to deliver on its G20 agenda this year, the 3G Ministers looked forward to continuing the good and constructive partnership with the G20 on salient issues facing the international community. They encouraged India to continue the G20’s strong engagement of the 3G and other regional and international organisations, in particular the UN, in implementing initiatives and strategies, and contributing to common goals on peace, stability and sustainable development. The 3G Ministers emphasised the importance of ensuring inclusiveness, coherence and complementarity when establishing global standards and galvanising collective action on shared challenges.
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21 SEPTEMBER 2022
[1] The 3G comprises the following Member States of the United Nations: Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Costa Rica, Finland, Guatemala, Jamaica, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, San Marino, Senegal, Singapore, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Viet Nam.