Bali, Nov 12 (FN Agency) An idyllic paradise of palm trees and pineapples, sun, sand and serenity is what comes to mind when you think of Bali. But this week the Indonesian island is hosting what could well be the most strained edition of the G20, or Group of 20 nations. The annual summit — which includes 19 advanced and emerging economies and the EU — was created after the Asian financial crisis in 1999. And it considers itself something of a superpowers club that manages future crises, BBC reported. And this time, there are plenty on the discussion block – the Russia-Ukraine war, brewing US-China tensions, soaring inflation, the ever-looming threat of a global recession, nuclear threats from North Korea, and perhaps most alarming of all, a rapidly warming earth.
Amid all this, host and Indonesian President Joko Widodo hopes to play chief dealmaker. US President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping are set to meet on Monday — and the clash of the world’s two largest economies has Widodo worried, the BBC reported. “If President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden can meet and talk, it would be very good for the world, especially if they are able to come to an agreement about how to help the world recover,” Widodo said. Like many Asian countries, Indonesia has benefited from decades of free trade and multilateralism. The US has always been Indonesia’s most important global strategic partner, but over the last decade, China has consistently ranked as one of its top two foreign investors.
Meanwhile there are also fears of the possible use of nuclear weapons, either in Ukraine or on the Korean peninsula, where Pyongyang has fired a record number of missiles this year. Securing a steady and consistent resumption of grain exports is one of the reasons why — ahead of the meeting — the Indonesian President has crisscrossed the globe, meeting with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky to convince them to come to the meeting. The G20 is as much Indonesia’s coming out party as it is Widodo’s swansong – he is in the final stretch of his presidency, and in 2024 he will have to stand down after two terms in power.