G20 Summit Workshop
March 2-3, 2009; The Financial Crisis and G20 Summit: Decoding (South) African Positions
A workshop hosted by the South African Institute of International Affairs
SAIIA, with the support of the Canadian High commission in South Africa, organized a workshop on the financial crisis and G20 summitry. This workshop arises from the G20 leaders' summit in Washington on 15 November 2008 which produced various far-reaching proposals for short and medium term financial regulatory reforms, and reform of multilateral institutions responsible for regulating global finance notably the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Financial Stability Forum. The objective of the workshop was to discuss the implications for Africa of the medium-term priority actions identified by G20 leaders.
To read the workshop report click here [pdf]
A number of the presentations are available for download below:
Conference Agenda
Note: * Indicates confirmed
NB: The entire discussion will be held under Chatham House rules, i.e. statements cannot be attributed to particular individuals without their express permission.
March 2nd
09h30 Welcome and introduction
Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, National Director, SAIIA*
H.E Ruth Archibald, High Commissioner of Canada to South Africa*
09h45-10h30 Review of G20L Short-term Priority Actions
There were a number of short-term priority actions established in the G20 Summit. The most immediate actions attempt to alleviate the impact of the financial crisis on the real economy. These include; the prevention of capital flight from emerging and developing economies who need these funds in order to sustain their programmes of poverty alleviation and infrastructure development; ensuring the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other Multilateral Development Banks have sufficient resources to lend to countries in need of financial aid; and building an effective and comprehensive international response with coordinated actions after consultation with all countries involved. This session will review the priorities and interrogate their implementation to date.
Chair: Jason Milton, South African Reserve Bank*
Presenter: Dr Manmohan Agarwal, Senior Visiting Fellow, CIGI*
Discussant: Dr Peter Wolff, Head of Department on World Economy and Development Finance, GDI*
10h30-11h00 Discussion of Short-term Priorities in relation to Africa
11h00-11h30 Tea
11h30-12h15 Review of G20L Medium-term Priorities
Under the medium term review there are numerous priorities which need to be addressed to minimise the impact of the global financial crisis and potential future recurrences. The G20 summit calls for higher regulatory standards such as accounting, auditing and deposit insurance. The IMF is encouraged to be more vigilant in its surveillance of all countries and their financial sectors. All these measures should have an effect of establishing a climate of stability and confidence in the global financial system. Moreover countries are called on to reform their domestic regulatory institutions thus ensuring they are in line with international norms and standards, keeping in mind that coordinated action must be made with prior communication to avoid unexpected consequences. This session will review progress made in implementing this agenda, and its implications for African countries.
Chair: Kurt Morais, Director of International Economic Relations, National Treasury*
Presenter: Prof. Robert Lawrence, Harvard University and Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA*
Discussants: Dr Rajiv Kumar, Executive Director, ICRIER, India*
Download presentation [pdf]
12h15-13h00 Discussion of Medium-term Priorities in relation to Africa
13h00-13h45 Lunch
13h45-14h30 Medium-term Priority 1: Sustaining African Access to Finance
Countries with large current account deficits now find themselves in exposed positions as developed countries have begun to rapidly withdraw their capital. How these emerging economies, particularly in Africa, will be able to regain access to credit and private capital affects their goals of sustainable growth and development of infrastructure. Countries such as China and Japan, with large foreign currency reserves could contribute to African economies in the forms of aid or injecting capital into the IMF. Alternatively African economies could turn to regional multilateral institutions such as the African Development Bank, or bilateral donors such as China. Either way, African economies in need of external financing are generally vulnerable; this session will examine their options.
Chair: Alan Hirsch, the Presidency, South Africa*
Presenter: Dr Abdul Kamara, Research Division Manager, African Development Bank*
Discussant: Dr Ellias Ngalande, Executive Director, MEFMI*
Download presentation [pdf]
14h30-15h15 Discussion
15h15-15h45 Tea
15h45-16h30 Medium-term Priority 2: Reforming the Multilateral Financial Architecture
The G20 Leadership has accepted that short and medium term financial reform measures and principles are necessary to stabilise the financial system and, more importantly, to avoid a repeat of this crisis. A more regulated framework is the first priority for national regulators. However, since financial markets are highly integrated, reforming the multilateral financial architecture is necessary. It is not clear how this would work in practice, given divergent perspectives on this issue amongst G7 economies, never mind within the G20. A critical component of this agenda, from an African perspective, is reforming the IMF and World Bank. The conditionalities the IMF in particular imposes on countries in need of assistance needs to be reviewed as these countries through no fault of their own find themselves facing a grim financial and economic outlook. This will in turn tie into the issue of better representation of African and/or emerging economies in institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.
Chair: Sean Nolan, Resident Representative, IMF*
Presenter: Nicolas Veron, Resident Fellow, Bruegel*
Discussant: Prof. Danny Bradlow, American University, Washington, and University of Pretoria, South Africa*
16h30-17h15 Discussion
17h15 Closure
March 3rd
09h30-10h15 Medium-term Priorities 3: Sustaining an Open Global Economy
The G20 recognises that the reforms of the international financial institutions will only be successful if grounded in a commitment to free market principles including, inter alia, open trade and investment, competitive markets and effectively regulated financial systems. In this regard, each state simply opting for inward looking and protectionist strategies were rejected. Instead, the G20 has come out and spoken of refraining from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, not imposing new export restrictions or implementing new WTO measures inconsistent to stimulating exports. However, as the full effect of the crisis unfolds, several countries are introducing protectionist measures. How bad could this get, and what avenues are available to African countries faced with a likely escalation of such measures?
Chair: Randall Williams, Chief Director for the Trade and Policy Negotiations, the DTI
Presenter: Richard Baldwin, GIIS and CEPR*
Discussant: Dr Shuaihua Cheng, ICTSD*
Download presentation [pdf]
10h15-11h00 Discussion
11h00-11h30 Tea
11h30-13h00 Final Panel: Key African Priorities for the April Summit
Drawing on the previous discussions, this panel will explore key options available to African countries that should be discussed at the forthcoming London summit. In addition to these key issues, the thorny matter of how South Africa, as the sole African representative, could prosecute this agenda needs to be clarified.
Chair: Dr Stephen Gelb, Executive Director, the edge institute*
Panellists:
Prof. Olusanya Ajakaiye, Director of Research, AERC*
John Mandy, CEO, Namibian Stock Exchange*
13h00 Closure and lunch
