Ambassador to US: emerging countries need greater role in G20

Ambassador Jorge Argüello said the G7 is still calling the shots in the international forum

Argentine ambassador to the United States Jorge Argüello said that emerging countries have a chance to generate a “common voice” in the G20 because its current, former and incoming presidents are all rising economic powers. 

At the screening of the documentary film “G20: the emerging future,” held in the Argentine Business University (UADE), Argüello –who is also Argentina’s G20 sherpa said that the G20 agenda was still largely dominated by the G7.

“We want to have a stronger role in the G20,” he said.

The G20’s immediate former, current and future presidents, known as its “troika”, lead the group’s agenda. That group is currently composed of three emerging countries: Indonesia, India and Brazil. South Africa, another emerging economy, will preside over the forum in 2025.

“Over the next years, the consecutive presidencies of India, Brazil and South Africa can boost a new perspective so that the agenda in this international forum does not simply recycle the G7’s agenda,” Argüello said.

“If you are not sitting at the table, you’re likely on the menu.”

Argüello said that the G7 has had “a unified position and a single voice” since the forum’s creation in 1999, and emerging countries were in discussions to establish “a single, unified voice” at the forum, adding that Argentina has “an important role to play”.

Argüello also said that Latin American countries at the G20 –Argentina, Brazil and Mexico– have failed to generate a “common discourse” in the forum. He highlighted the importance of regional emerging countries reaching a basic consensus on the countries’ financing and investments for energy transition and digital development, among other topics.

Indian ambassador to Argentina, Dinesh Bhatia, whose country currently presides over the G20, said that South Africa is the only African country that is part of the G20 – something that, he added, could change soon.

“I understand it is a matter of using an established word, but I don’t like the term ‘emerging countries’,” he told the audience. “We have already emerged”.

The documentary, which has testimonies from Indian, Russian, Brazilian and Mexican representatives, was produced by the Open Embassy Foundation, which Argüello leads.

Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said in a recorded video message to the event that the increasing role of G20’s emerging countries shows that “the Global South is leading the way” on the economy, the global GDP, and the responses to the world’s crises and challenges.

“An agenda that reflects our interests will contribute to a more balanced international system,” Cafiero said.

Newsletter

All Right Reserved.  Buenos Aires Herald