Western nations are preparing to organize coordinated walks and other diplomatic disregards in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Washington.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to avoid G20 sessions attended by Russian officials on the sidelines of Wednesday’s International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. However, Yellen will attend an inaugural session on the war in Ukraine, regardless of Russia’s involvement, a US Treasury Department official said.
While some in Western capitals have argued that Russia’s actions should mean it is completely excluded from global meetings, this is not an opinion shared by others in the G20, including China and Indonesia, which chairs the group. this year.
Moscow confirmed on Tuesday that Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov would lead his delegation to talks despite repeated protests by Western diplomats that they could not continue as usual during a war in which thousands of civilians were killed in bombings by Russian troops.
“During and after the meeting, we will be sure to send a strong message and we will not be alone in this,” said a German government source, accusing Russia of starting a conflict that has also led to rising world food prices. and energy.
An official from the French Ministry of Finance said that he expected some ministers from the G-7 countries to leave their seats when their Russian counterpart had to speak.
The Chancellor of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, will also not attend certain G20 sessions, which will be attended by another representative of the British government, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance.
Disagreements deepened by the war in Ukraine raise questions about the future of the G20 as the world’s leading forum for economic policy.
French and German officials said there would be no agreed communiqué at the end of the meeting, which was originally intended to discuss the state of the world economy and coordinate the vaccine and other pandemic efforts.
In addition to the G7 countries – the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany and Italy – the G20 includes emerging economies, including China, India and Brazil, which have radically different views on how the global economy should work.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the fact that some G20 countries have chosen not to follow Western sanctions against Russia are just the latest challenge to efforts to build a global set of trade and finance rules.
The United States and China have long exchanged accusations of protectionism, while the fact that world trade is growing slower than the world economy as a whole has raised questions about the future of globalization.
Ahead of the G20 summit, a senior IMF official warned of the risk of fragmentation of the world economy.
“One scenario is that we split blocks that do not trade much with each other, which are of different standards, and that would be a disaster for the world economy,” said IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gurinchas.
Separately, the fund cut its forecast for global economic growth by almost a full percentage point, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine, but warned that inflation was a “clear and current threat” to many countries.
Add Comment