Focus: GS-II: International Relations (Important International Groupings and Agreements, Foreign Policies affecting India’s Interests)
Why in News?
Union Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizer virtually addressed the inaugural session at the G20 Health Ministers meeting at Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
- Indonesia has hosted two Health Working Group Meetings in Yogyakarta and Lombok wherein priority issues of ‘Harmonizing Global Health Protocol Standards’ and ‘Building Global Health System Resilience’ were discussed and deliberated upon.
About G20
- The G20 is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
- The G20 membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, representing about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, 80% of global investment, over 75% of global trade and roughly half the world’s land area.
- The members of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
- Spain as a permanent, non-member invitee, also attends leader summits.
- India will hold the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India in 2023.
Structure and functioning of G20
- The G20 Presidency rotates annually according to a system that ensures a regional balance over time.
- For the selection of presidency, the 19 countries are divided into 5 groups, each having no more than 4 countries. The presidency rotates between each group.
- Every year the G20 selects a country from another group to be president.
- India is in Group 2 which also has Russia, South Africa and Turkey.
- The G20 does not have a permanent secretariat or Headquarters.
- The work of G20 is divided into two tracks:
- The Finance track comprises all meetings with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors and their deputies. Meeting several times throughout the year they focus on monetary and fiscal issues, financial regulations, etc.
- The Sherpa track focuses on broader issues such as political engagement, anti-corruption, development, energy, etc.
- Since 2008, the group convenes at least once a year, with the summits involving each member’s head of government.
