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From St Petersburg to Brisbane
Australia took over the responsibility for coordinating the G20 work from Russia, accepting the rotating presidency of the forum on December 1, 2013. Most commentators argue that the Russian presidency was a success in terms of strengthening G20’s institutional framework, its legitimacy and effectiveness.
G20 leaders met in St. Petersburg under the trying economic conditions. Sluggish global growth, persisting imbalances and downside economic risks demanded that the forum concentrates its efforts on developing and adopting a set of measures aimed at boosting strong, sustainable and balanced growth, along with job creation, around the world. Similarly to the previous summits, these traditional priorities constituted the core of the Russian G20 presidency agenda.
The Russian presidency managed to ensure a proper balance between its national interests and the partners’ priorities, utilizing the G20 capabilities to respond to the key global governance challenges. Сonsolidating members’ efforts to address core economic and financial issues, the G20 also launched its work on such risks as increasing income disparities, chronic underinvestment in the safe and secure modern infrastructure, unforeseen negative consequences of regulation.