Objective: ICRIER organised its 13th Annual International G20 Conference on 6-8th October 2021 on the theme – “Global Economic Coordination in the Age of Pandemic: Views from the G20 Members”. It was a three-day long G20 conference, and the conference was held virtually, on online webinar portals WebEx and Zoom and it was streamed Live on ICRIER’s YouTube channel. The Conference was conducted in partnership with the India Office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).
Scope and Coverage: Following the theme of the Italian Presidency – People, Planet and Prosperity, ICRIER’s conference sessions were designed to deliberate upon the following issues:
- The critical role the G-20 members played (or not) in helping to avert the worst outcomes of the pandemic. How did they perform in terms of pursuing counter-cyclical fiscal and monetary policies, keeping their borders open, and ensuring global cooperation with regards to production and distribution of vaccines? And how resilient are the emerging markets if the major central banks dial back its pandemic support sooner than expected?
- What has been the role and effectiveness of policies pursued by G-20 member countries in the global economic recovery process and in building back better and greener?
- What lessons the member countries should take away from the ongoing pandemic for the future? How can the troika—Italy, Indonesia, and India—help to ensure that G-20’s relevance as a global forum not only remains intact, but grows over time?
Activities: The conference included an Inaugural panel and five plenary sessions.
- Session 1: Coordination of Macroeconomic Policy in the Post-Covid World: Preparing for Taper Tantrum II and other Global Shocks
- Session 2: Coherent Response for a Post-Covid-19 Recovery: Balancing Strong with Sustainable Recovery
- Session 3: Future of Work and Social Protection in the Post-Covid World: Role that G-20 can Play
- Session 4: Women in Economics and Business: A Conversation in Honour of Isher Judge Ahluwalia
- Session 5: Reform to Remain Relevant: Views from the Past, Current and Upcoming G20 Presidencies
The inaugural address was marked by keynote addresses from Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, honourable Finance Minister of India and Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry and the G20 Sherpa for India. Other participants included Rajiv Kumar, Peter Rimmele, Pramod Bhasin, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Nada Choueiri, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Stephany Griffith Jones, Amar Bhattacharya, Jean Pisani- Ferry, Richard Damania, Ulka Kelkar, Yamini Aiyar, Carl B. Frey, Ruzbeh Irani, Alina Sorgner, N.K. Singh, Rohini Pande, Naina Lal Kidwai, Sonalde Desai, Rajat Kathuria, Baijayant Panda, H.E. Amb. Vincenzo de Luca, and Tetsushi Sonobe.
