The Covid-19 pandemic has been characterized as the deepest recession since the second world war, whose scars will be felt in the decades to come. The G-20 – formed in 1999 in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis and elevated to the leader’s level in 2008 – is tailor-made to deal precisely with shocks such as the Covid-19: externally induced, global in scope, led to massive disruption to economic outputs and required global cooperation of an unprecedented scale. ICRIER has been organising these Annual conferences since 2009, prior to the G20 Summit. The discussions in these Conferences have provided a platform for engaging eminent researchers, academicians, and policymakers in rich debate on topics of relevance to the G20 Summit. This year the Conference holds greater importance from an Indian perspective as India will join the G20 Troika this year, as it prepares to assume the presidency in 2023. As a result, a key motivation for this year’s Conference was to contribute to India’s planning and decision making through deep deliberations, discussions, and exchange of ideas.
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?
The conference included an Inaugural panel and five plenary sessions, namely:
- Session: Coordination of Macroeconomic Policy in the Post-Covid World: Preparing for Taper Tantrum II and other Global Shocks
- Session: Coherent Response for a Post-Covid-19 Recovery: Balancing Strong with Sustainable Recovery
- Session: Future of Work and Social Protection in the Post-Covid World: Role that G-20 can Play
- Session: Women in Economics and Business: A Conversation in Honour of Isher Judge Ahluwalia
- Session: Reform to Remain Relevant: Views from the Past, Current and Upcoming G20 Presidencies
Inaugural Session
The inaugural session was held on 6th October 2021, and it was the first of its immensity. The welcome address was delivered by Deepak Mishra, Director and CE, ICRIER. In his remarks, Dr. Mishra highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of multilateralism, emphasizing on the need for a stronger and effective G20 in the aftermath of the Covid 19 pandemic. In the inaugural speech that followed, Pramod Bhasin, Chairman, ICRIER spoke about G20 being an opportunity for India and other countries to address domestic priorities as well as build global solutions. The inaugural address was marked by keynote addresses from Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, honorable Finance Minister of India and Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry and the G20 Sherpa for India. The discussion was moderated by Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. The speakers shared their perspectives on the topic, “Covid-19 Pandemic and the Future of G-20”. The closing remarks were delivered by Mr. Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative to India, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. He delivered a vote of thanks and laid the hope for G20 to continue showcasing avenues of international coordination for path breaking results in the future.
Session 1: Coordination of Macroeconomic Policy in the Post-Covid World: Preparing for Taper Tantrum II and other Global Shocks
Following the tradition, the first plenary session was aligned to the discussion in the Finance Track of the G20. The Session was scheduled on Day 1 of the Conference i.e. 6th October. The panel discussion, moderated by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Former Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of India, and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), focused on the need for coordinated macroeconomic policy in the post Covid world. The first speaker Nada Choueiri, IMF Mission Chief for India, spoke about the significant policy interventions that helped emerging economies recover from the economic impact of the pandemic. The second speaker, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, highlighted the minimised impact of 'taper tantrum' or withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve on India, as compared to the 2008 financial crisis. The final speaker in the session, Stephany Griffith Jones, Financial Markets Director, Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University, discussed the possibility of reallocation of capital from high income countries to low and middle income or vulnerable economies, enabling them to address the post pandemic crisis.
Session 2: Coherent Response for a Post-Covid-19 Recovery: Balancing Strong with Sustainable Recovery
The second plenary session was scheduled on Day 2 of the Conference, i.e. 7th October. The session was chaired by Amar Bhattacharya, Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Centre for Sustainable Development Program, Brookings Institute. Dr. Bhattacharya set the context for the discussion by elaborating on how 18 months since the onset of the pandemic, the world is in the midst of a protracted and divergent recovery. The first panelist, Jean Pisani- Ferry, Senior Fellow at Bruegel and Senior Non-resident fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics indicated how development is all about balancing the portfolio of assets- human capital, physical capital, natural capital, and intangible capital. Richard Damania, Chief Economist, Sustainable Development, The World Bank distinguished between two views on green transitions - one involving a smooth transition process and the other involving sharper shifts. The idea was to highlight how not every path to decarbonization would be easy. The third panelist in the session, Ulka Kelkar, Director – Climate Program, WRI India discussed key results of a study conducted by WRI [D1] that analyzed four scenarios based on current announced climate pledges by G20 countries.
Session 3: Future of Work and Social Protection in the Post-Covid World: Role that G-20 can Play
The third session of the Conference was organised on 7th October. The Session was chaired by Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive, Centre for Policy Research, who set the tone for the discussion, highlighting vitality of the issue of social protection. The first panelist in the session, Carl B. Frey, Oxford Martin Citi Fellow, University of Oxford explained that the scope of automation has been expanding from mathematical calculations and routine tasks to a bottom-up approach to automation through machine learning. The future of global division of labour can be seen through a lens of a project cycle. The second panelist, Ruzbeh Irani, President, Group Human Resources & Communications, Member of the Group Executive Board reiterated that routine and predictable task have a much higher potential for automation. There is a need to remodel jobs, which will lead to redefining the skills that are needed and thus initiate the whole process of re-skilling, which is at the heart of preparing labour for the future of work. The final panelist in the session, Alina Sorgner, Assistant Professor of Applied Data Analytics, John Cabot University pointed out that Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation around the globe. It is evidenced in the expansion of digital infrastructure, in digital delivery of services by firms and within organizations, in the increase of digital entrepreneurship, and in the expansion of industry 4.0.
Session 4: Women in Economics and Business: A Conversation in Honour of Isher Judge Ahluwalia
The fourth plenary session was organised on 8th October, in Honour of Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia. This session featured conversation between three highly successful women professionals discussing ground-breaking contribution in their respective fields while honouring the life and achievements of Ms. Isher Judge Ahluwalia. The session was moderated by Pramod Bhasin, Chairperson, ICRIER and N.K. Singh participated in the session as a guest speaker. The session began with opening remarks by Pramod Bhasin, and he highlighted that Dr. Ahluwalia represented women in economics and business, powerfully. All the panelists described their respective journeys and their own interactions with Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia. The guest speaker in the session, N. K. Singh spoke about Dr. Ahluwalia’s spirit to never give up on the objectives and mentioned that institution creation and institution outlasting were her own individual contribution to ICRIER.
Session 5: Reform to Remain Relevant: Views from the Past, Current and Upcoming G20 Presidencies
The final session of the conference was held on 8th October, and it was chaired by Rajat Kathuria, Senior Visiting Professor, ICRIER and Dean, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University. This session was designed to discuss the current and future presidencies of the G-20 and the relevance of reforms at a global level. The panelists of the session were Baijayant Panda, National Vice President and Spokesperson, Bhartiya Janata Party, H.E. Amb. Vincenzo de Luca, Ambassador of Italy to India, and Tetsushi Sonobe, Dean & CEO, ADBI. The chair emphasized that the global economy is facing disruption, there is anti-globalisation and anti-trade features. In order to overcome such issues, the G-20 countries should look for ways to come together as no individual country can handle these large problems alone. The first panelist, Baijayant Panda highlighted the relevance of G-20 countries and how global partnership has played crucial role during the pandemic. Amb. Vincenzo expressed his concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and how health has become a common and global goal. He indicated that Italy has steered the G-20 activities towards the goal of finding a way out of the current crisis due to the pandemic and boosting a fair and greener recovery with regard to the environment. The final speaker in the session, Tetsushi Sonobe shared a presentation on how Asia should and will play a greater role on the global stage through strengthening intra-regional trade and stimulating domestic demand.
The session was followed by concluding remarks and a vote of thanks by Deepak Mishra, Director & Chief Executive, ICRIER.
Please visit the conference website for all full videos of the discussions here.