Is there attendance in Russia?

Shaking G20 Underwater Offense and Defense April 27, 19:13

G20, an international conference held in Washington on April 20th.

Whether to attend Russia, which has made a military invasion of Ukraine.

It was an unusual development, with offense and defense unfolding under the surface of the water.

Reporter Hironori Yamada of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, who has been interviewing the locals, is approaching.

Nemawashi of Russia

On April 14, Brazil's leading newspaper "O Globo" issued a scoop.

"Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov Obtains Official Letter to Brazil's Economic Minister Gezis" The

Russian Government Officially Asks the Brazilian Government for G20 = Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetings of 20 Major Countries It is an article that it was.

In the letter, the Russian side expressed strong dissatisfaction with economic sanctions such as the United States, saying that "almost half of foreign currency reserves have been frozen and trade with partners in emerging countries has been blocked", and "dialogue in the framework of G20 etc." It is more important than ever to promote this, "he said, calling on the Brazilian government to help prevent Russia from being excluded from the conference.

“Do not let Russia attend” Underwater offense and defense

Why did Russia take such an action?

In the background, there was a great deal of power to prevent Russia from attending.

In March, US President Joe Biden argued that Russia should be excluded from the G20 summit scheduled for this fall in Indonesia.

The G7 countries, which consist of Japan and Western countries, also called on Indonesia, the presidency, to urge "Russia's voluntary absence" under the hood.

Various working groups held in advance also repeatedly told Russia not to come to the meeting.

However, unlike the G7, the members of the G20 have various political and economic distances from Russia, and in fact it is hard to say that it is a monolith.

Of the G20 excluding Russia, the G7 and 10 countries and regions of South Korea, Australia and the EU = European Union are subject to sanctions.

Meanwhile, nine countries, including Brazil, India, China and Indonesia, have not imposed sanctions.

Russia was working diligently on the side of emerging nations, including Brazil, to be on their side, as their positions were divided.

Why did you stop attending so much?

Why did each country, such as the United States, try to prevent Russia from attending so much?

At that time, an executive of the Ministry of Finance often said, "Russia is not" business as usual "."

The G7 Leaders' Statement on March 24 called for a united response to the international community to isolate Russia, saying that "international organizations and multilateral forums should no longer work with Russia as before." rice field.

Allowing Russia to participate in the G20 would be against this policy.

Furthermore, when Russia attended, there was concern that the debate over the global economy at the G20 would be "messed up" (sources).

G7 countries are in the position that "Russia's military invasion pushes up energy and food prices and is the greatest risk to the world economy."

On the other hand, it was obvious in advance that Russia would argue that "massive sanctions by each country are causing turmoil in the world economy."

China, which has been strongly opposed to sanctions for some time, is expected to be in line with Russia's ideas, and it was clear from the fire that it would be impossible to come up with a unified view as the G20.

In the end, the presidency, Indonesia, which was caught between the two, repeatedly stated that "we will proceed with preparations on the premise that everyone will attend," and as a result, allowed Russia to attend in the form of online participation.

So to speak, it was a calm form that was a compromise.

Boycott tells a sudden tweet

Partly because of that, the G20 conference was held.

A tweet from Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Treasury Minister, who should have been attending the meeting, announced the incident as officials and interviewers watched over what would happen.

"I left the G20 meeting when Russia said."

Deputy Prime Minister Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and is known to be critical of Russia, also sent a message that "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a serious threat to the world economy. Russia should not attend the conference."

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also left, demonstrating strong criticism of Russia.

With a series of absentees, the Japanese minister ...

How did Minister of Finance Suzuki, who was present from Japan, act at that time?

After the meeting, Minister Suzuki said, "I didn't leave."

He explained that the reason was to directly condemn the military invasion at the meeting and severely criticize Russia for not attending the meeting.

Furthermore, after Russia's remarks, sessions on important issues such as support measures for low-income countries on infectious diseases and climate change will continue, and Japan cannot leave to lead such discussions. He said he didn't go.

Representatives from France and Germany also stayed at the meeting, and the response was divided even within the G7.

At the next day's meeting, I turned around and left

Meanwhile, the IMFC = International Monetary and Financial Commission by IMF member countries was held the next day.

It was revealed that most of the 24 members who were present, including Minister Suzuki, were absent at the time of the Russian remarks.

According to Minister Suzuki's explanation, the opportunity for the Russian side to speak at the committee on that day was almost the last, and there was no important agenda left.

It is unclear whether the secretariat dared to carry it out, but with the "conditions that make it easy to leave", it was possible to turn around from the previous day and show a united protest against Russia.

What will happen to the G20 in the fall with the remaining issues?

However, the challenges remained.

Both the G20 and IMFC were announced after the meeting by the "Chairman's Summary" and the "Chairman's Statement."

In many cases, the outcome of the meeting is announced as a "joint statement", but this time the adoption was postponed at any of the meetings.

At a press conference after the end, the IMFC chair said, "One member did not agree," hinting at Russia's opposition to the adoption of the joint statement.

Generally, the joint statement of these meetings is "unanimous" in principle.

For that reason, if even one country continues to argue against it, it will not be possible to show its intention as a conference.

This time, the challenges of the conference have become apparent.

The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting will be held again in July.

And the G20 summit is coming up in November.

If the same situation as this time is repeated, there is concern that the G20 may malfunction and the significance of its existence itself may be questioned.

The international community is now on the verge of consensus on whether Russia can take a united response to stop the invasion.

Hironori Yamada ,

Reporter, Ministry of Economic Affairs

Joined in 2006

Worked at Asahikawa Bureau and Hiroshima Bureau

Currently in charge of Cabinet Office and Ministry of Finance