Inside a charmed circle, G20 nations make the most of their economic prowess in Washington to the detriment of those without, writes Gamal Nkrumah "Our nations agree that we must make the financial markets more transparent and accountable," a befuddled United States President George W Bush unconvincingly told the leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) nations assembled in Washington DC on 15 November for the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy. A down-at-the- ears Bush had to concede, though, that "a meeting is not going to solve the world's problems." Collectively the G20 accounts for more than 85 per cent of the global gross domestic product, which is a measure of the value of goods and services produced worldwide. Moreover, an estimated two-thirds of the world's population lives in the G20 nations. A five-page communiqué was hastily conjured up, which described broad global goals, clearly putting the blame on the US. A contrite West pleaded with China to stump up a substantial amount of cash this time round. It is no secret that the major sources of foreign exchange reserves are such Asian economic giants as Japan and China as well as the oil-rich Gulf Arab states spearheaded by the Saudis. Conspicuously absent from the G20 summit was US President-elect Barack Obama, who dispatched emissaries but did not attend the meeting in person. Obama was widely reckoned by observers to find common ground with a majority of the G20 leaders in his insistence on a further economic stimulus programme in the US -- a project the Bush administration vehemently objects to. Two senior advisers for Obama, former Clinton administration secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former Republican congressman James Leach, met privately with key G20 leaders on the sidelines of the Washington summit. The G20 leaders called for more fiscal measures to cushion the global financial meltdown, stressing that the crisis impacts both the wealthy industrially advanced nations as well as the developing countries -- emerging economies and the least developed countries. The Washington summit was deemed so crucial by leaders that it was dubbed Breton Woods Two in honour of the original 1944 meeting in Breton Woods at which the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were created. Participants at the weekend summit included Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Turkey. The European Union and several other regional organisations are also members of this elite group. World leaders in Washington pledged to reinstate a healthy state of global economic performance and speed up economic growth as well as institute a radical reform of the world's financial system. It is important to note that concerning the nitty gritty, there was no consensus among them on how to stabilise the global financial system, or to ensure that the devastating crisis does not occur again anytime soon. There was some agreement on how to evaluate global accounting norms but differences of opinion arose when it came to the financing of the needs of international financial institutions. An agreement to draw up a list of financial institutions whose collapse would imperil the global financial system caused something of a commotion. In the end it was decided that each country implement measures that it "deemed appropriate to domestic conditions". On the question of the modernisation of both the IMF and World Bank, there was some agreement. In principle, there was consensus as to the need to upgrade the two ageing and ailing institutions; however, participants differed on how exactly to go about reforming the Breton Woods institutions, and there was a divergence of opinion as to how far the implementation of changes should go. G20 leaders rejected any notion of protectionism and they agreed in principle to create "supervisory colleges" of financial regulators from different nations to better detect risky investing. The idea of supervisory colleges was proposed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. They also agreed the "use of fiscal measures" to energise the economies of individual countries "as appropriate", whatever that means. The US Federal Reserve and other G20 central banks were urged to initiate interest rate reductions to assist in the easing of the international economic fallout. The next summit has been scheduled for 30 April when Obama will be the US president. And, Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist at the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics chaired a panel known as the Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System. The task force will suggest steps that member states can take to secure "a more stable global economic order". World Bank President Robert Zoelick, fearing perhaps the peripheralisation of his organisation, announced on the eve of the Washington G20 summit that an additional $100 billion would be made available to shore up the economies of the developing countries most negatively impacted by the global financial crisis. "Emerging market countries were not the cause of this crisis, but they are amongst its most affected victims," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the assembled leaders. China, Japan and Saudi Arabia emerged as the likeliest candidates to come to the rescue of the distressed economies of North America and Europe. China, however, hinted that it would not bail out the Western nations unconditionally. The Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao, stated at different forums, including the Washington meeting, that they would expect certain advantages in return for their help, even though he hasn't spelled them out yet. Beijing was determined not to allow Western nations to relegate the G20 meeting to a piece of political theatre. Accordingly, it announced that it would allocate $600 billion to boost its own economy, especially the agricultural, construction, infrastructure, and social welfare sectors, including major rebuilding of areas devastated by the 12 May earthquake. Despite the excitement which China caused as the new key global player on the block, Western fears are that its package will not have enough of a multiplier effect to affect the world economy. Bush delivered an impassioned defence of capitalism reiterating his unconditional commitment to free markets and free trade. His pontification, however, fell on deaf ears as the leaders of the G20 clearly laid blame for the global financial crisis at the doorstep of the US and the Bush administration. He, in turn decried what he described as the "assault on capitalism" and urged the G20 leaders to "fix the problems" as if with a magic wand, "rather than dismantle a system that has improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world," as he willfully put it.
