An Ugly Start to the G-20 Meeting
As you’ve probably heard, tonight marks the formal start of the G-20 meeting in London. The Group of 20, or G-20, is an international body that meets to discuss economic issues. The member countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States. The European Union is also a member, represented by the rotating council presidency and the European Central Bank.
At this year’s summit, countries need to come together to enhance global coordination in order to help restore global economic growth. World leaders must make three commitments:
- First, to take whatever action is necessary to stabilise financial markets and enable families and businesses to get through the recession.
- Second, to reform and strengthen the global financial and economic system to restore confidence and trust.
- Third, to put the global economy on track for sustainable growth.
The bulk of the work will take place during tomorrow’s plenary sessions attended by the various heads of state. However, today’s activities have been marred by ugly protests from individuals who are extremely unhappy with the decisions made by the government and the banks. The Guardian has been live blogging the events all day. Below are some of the highlights.
Protesters stormed a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, a recipient of government assistance, smashed windows and looted computers.
Hopefully tomorrow’s meeting is a little more constructive…
The WSJ has a good primer on what the G-20 is and what it does.
Just wondering what your slant is on the G-20. And while you say the day was marred by protests, you seem happy to report it and remain noncommittal about the reasons behind the protests and the G-20 itself. Just reporting, or is there more here than meets the eye?
@Lee Down
In a tough economic climate such as this one, you can surely expect protests at an event of this magnitude. People have good reason to be upset. The pics and video were a reflection of what I thought were “out of place”. “Capitalism isn’t working”, what is our option then? Communism? — I think not. Also, violence has no part at the G-20 protests, what those people did to the RBS office was uncalled for and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.