WASHINGTON: The Group of Seven is no longer effective and should be replaced by a steering group that includes new emerging economic powers like China, India and Brazil, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said yesterday.
In a speech ahead of meetings in Washington this weekend of finance leaders, Zoellick said the US financial crisis was a “wake-up call” and showed more cooperation across borders among a bigger group of countries was needed.
“The G-7 is not working,” Zoellick said, referring to the grouping of rich countries including the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan. “We need a better group for a different time.”
“The new multilateralism, suiting our times, will need to be a flexible network, not a fixed nor unitary system,” Zoellick said. “It needs to maximize the strengths of interconnecting and overlapping actors and institutions, public and private,” he said.
He said the steering group should include finance ministers from China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Russia. However, it should not be limited to any number of countries but should be flexible and evolve with the times.
Such a group would bring together over 70 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, 56 percent of world population, 62 percent of global energy production, the world’s major carbon emitters, donors, and the main players in global capital, commodity, and exchange rate markets.
The new global system should respect state sovereignty but required a “sense of shared responsibility,” he said.
Zoellick said the group should meet regularly, either in person or through videoconferencing, and with the help of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund identify emerging problems and suggest solutions.
Zoellick, who has served in high-ranking foreign and economic policy posts under three Republican presidents, said the next US president, while dealing with the aftermath of the financial crisis, should encourage broader global participation. “That work is not about America alone. Both candidates have spoken about strengthening the sinews of America’s ties with the world. How the next American president will do this matters,” said Zoellick.
Zoellick has won the attention of international economic officials in recent months for calling attention to the global food crisis and the danger it posed to developing countries.
