Agribusiness and the 2017 Group of Twenty Meeting

Currently, President Trump and other world leaders are gathered in Hamburg, Germany for the 2017 G20 summit. Representing approximately 80% of the global gross domestic product as a group, the main goals of the G20 are to promote and ensure international financial stability and economic growth through concerted and coordinated policy decisions. This year, it is expected that security issues, such as the international terrorist threat, the North Korean issue, and refugees, will be a key part of the agenda.

Agribusiness and the 2017 Group of Twenty Meeting

The Group of Twenty (G20) is an elite international forum that brings together the governments and financial policy makers of the world’s largest economies and multilateral institutions. The G20 was created in 1999 as a consultation group of finance ministers and central bank governors to expand the scope of the small Group of Seven (G7) forum. However, since the 2008 financial crisis, the G20 has held meetings regularly with presidents and heads of state. This year, the twelfth G20 summit meeting is being held in Hamburg, Germany on July 7 and 8. The following countries are the permanent members of the G20: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Additionally, the President of the European Council, currently Donald Tusk, and the President of the European Commission, currently Jean-Claude Juncker, represent the European Union as a whole. Similarly, each year, countries and international organizations are invited as special guests. For this year’s summit, 2017, special guests include the African Union, Guinea, Senegal, Singapore, the Netherlands, Norway, and Vietnam. Other countries and international organizations are deemed permanent guests of G20 summit meetings and these include Spain, the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Trade Organization.

The G20 organization has a rotating presidency, currently occupied by Germany, and several working groups. One of these working groups is focused on global agribusiness and the food industry. During January of 2017, the agriculture ministers of all G20 members met in Berlin and identified key working points in a joint declaration. In this declaration, the G20 nations highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture as a global building block for international stability and peace. The countries identified as key challenges the global need to protect the environment and climate, the need to feed an ever growing global population, and the central role that agriculture plays in preventing mass migrations or displacements. After all, G20 nations account for 66% of the global population, 60% of the world’s farmland, and 80% of the international trade of agricultural staples or commodities. In terms of concrete policy measures regarding global agriculture, the G20 members are seeking to advance a more efficient use of water resources through precision technology in agriculture as well as minimizing the use antibiotics in livestock operations.

(Read more about Leading Coconut Water Producers in Southeast Asia)