Indonesia Optimistic G20 Sherpa Meeting Produces Leader's Declaration

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has expressed optimism that the fourth G20 Sherpa meeting which is taking place on November 11-14 in Bali will agree on the leader's declaration.

The meeting is also the Group of 20 (G20) sherpas’ last meeting prior to the G20 Leaders Summit in Indonesia's G20 Presidency.

"Sherpas from all countries have agreed on endorsing an output document or what we often call the Leader's Declaration, especially for Indonesia’s G20 Summit of 2022. That is the main goal. It's still in process, we are still struggling," said Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Susiwijono Moegiarso, as noted in a release issued by Ministry of Communication and Informatics and received on Sunday.

The Leaders' Declaration is a commitment from the G20 leaders to joint efforts in post-COVID-19 pandemic economic and health recovery.

Moegiarso explained that the meeting -- taking place for the past few days -- have been very dynamic, with all participants expressing their commitment while adjusting their respective interests, especially on account of the current geopolitical constellation.

On  the occasion, Indonesia also facilitated each country’s sherpa representatives for continuous communication, in both formal and informal ways.

"If we look at recent developments until this afternoon, we are optimistic that we can produce an output document when Indonesia assumed the presidency in 2022. We still have time before the summit. Hopefully, it will meet our expectations," said Moegiarso who is also Chair of the Joint Secretariat of the Sherpa Track and Finance Track of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency.

He mentioned two important points in the G20 fourth sherpa meeting.
First, all sherpa representatives attended the meeting in person in Indonesia. Second, all sherpas demonstrated strong commitment in the midst of dynamics and differences in producing a common agreement.

He further said that Indonesia's G20 Presidency 2022 meetings are intended to be different from previous G20 meetings.

"The most obvious difference is that in all discussions, we want the G20 forum as the premier economic and financial forum to actually produce documents that bring real benefits, both for our national interest and for solutions to future dynamic challenges," he remarked.

Therefore, he continued, as originally planned, the Sherpa meetings and discussions would result in an annex called concrete deliverables.

"The concrete deliverables will be labeled, probably it will be technical. Like basket 1, basket 2. Basket 1 is a multilateral project, the other is bilateral," he explained.

He further explained that the results of discussion will become an attachment document to the Leader's Declaration. It contains approximately 226 projects and initiatives, 115 of which are related to the priority issues of Indonesia’s Presidency in 2022.

"Global health architecture, digital-based economic transformation, energy transition plus food security issues. That's what we have designed for a concrete initiative project, especially to help solve various world crises such as food, energy, and finance crises," Moegiarso pointed out.

However, he said that all representatives have not been able to deliver the details since the later decision currently becomes a very strategic discussion. In this regard, each sherpa remains in constant communication with its leader.

Apart from continuing the tradition of all previous G20 meetings, Moegiarso argued that the leader's declaration will set a good precedent for the next Summit at India’s G20 presidency next year.

The Sherpa Track of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency includes 12 working groups and 10 engagement groups.

ANTARA

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