G20 is legitimate, effective response to global challenges

Following is Turkish Amb. to Korea Erdogan Iscan’s contribution to “The G20 Seoul Summit 2010: Shared Growth Beyond Crisis.” Ed.

The international system is in transition and the global challenges are evolving. There have been compelling reasons to create a new mechanism to cope with the changing circumstances and the newly emerging problems. The G7, or the G8, did not have the required representative structure, thus lacked political legitimacy. Consequently, it could not deliver effective responsiveness to the crises. The inclusion of the powerful economies was needed. The G20 member countries represent around 90 percent of the global GDP; 80 percent of the world trade; two thirds of the world population. Its economic weight and broad membership gives it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy. Meanwhile, the G8 will remain as a body to deal with certain international political and security questions. On the other hand, the fundamental international and regional organizations, such as the UN, the WTO, the OECD, will continue to play their central roles in setting the long-term goals and taking steps to create and improve norms that regulate international relations.

The emergence of the G20 is timely and its proven capability to become the premier forum with a view to addressing the global challenges is an important asset for the international community. The G20 is expected to play a continuing role in ensuring the global economic recovery as it has proven that it can respond effectively to crises. Despite the fact that relative stability has been achieved and economic activity is recovering, it would be premature to conclude that the global crisis is over. The difficulties of the financial markets have not been fully eliminated, the unemployment problem persists and the need to fight protectionism continues. We also need to finalize the restructuring of the international financial architecture.