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Ottawa, January 24, 2001
2001-008

G-20 The Ideal Forum to Tackle Problems Associated With Globalization, says Finance Minister in London

Related document:

• Notes for an address by the Honourable Paul Martin, to the Royal Institute of International Affairs. (News Release 2001-009)

Many of the problems associated with globalization cannot be resolved by any one government and must be tackled by the international community as a whole, Finance Minister and G-20 Chairman Paul Martin said today in a speech to the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, England.

"The increasing irrelevance of geographic distance, the mobility of capital, the speed and volume of modern communications, the mass movement of people – all of these forces are combining to alter the traditional exercise of sovereignty by a single state acting in isolation," the Minister said.

The Minister said the G-20 is the ideal forum for addressing the most serious challenges that countries have with globalization because "it brings together a cross-section of national economies at different stages of economic maturity, thereby providing the diversity needed to address the wide range of human needs."

"The G-20 must play a role in ensuring that economic and social policies are in sync – building on each other rather than working at cross-purposes," he added.

Minister Martin was chosen to serve as chair for the first two years after the G-20 was created in September 1999. The group's purpose is to ensure broader participation in discussions on international financial affairs among countries that play a particularly crucial role in the global economy.

The G-20 consists of finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 industrialized and emerging market countries. The members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. The G-20 also includes representatives from the European Central Bank and the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the IMF) and their policy committees.

Together, G-20 members account for 66 per cent of the world's population, 88 per cent of the world's economy and almost 60 per cent of the world's poor.

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