G20 catches up with G8 in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, September 26 (By Itar-Tass writers Mikhail Kalmykov and
Andrei Sitov) -- The G20 summit in Pittsburg is over. Though it may have
not risen to many of the expectations originally pinned on it, the event
has certainly institutionalized the G20 as the world economy's 'board of
directors'. From now on, as follows from decisions made at the summit
level, the G20 becomes number one strategic international economic forum.
The G8 has had to give room - figuratively and literally. Next year the
G20 summit in Canada will incorporate the G8, and if the experiment proves
successful, the procedure will be made a yearly routine starting from 2011.
In the meantime, the resolutions the Pittsburgh summit has produced
can hardly be called breakthrough ones. As a matter of fact, nobody has
used such strong comments. There were cautious speculations to the effect
the summit discussed a strategy of emerging from the crisis, while its
implementation has been suspended till next year (Dmitry Medvedev). Others
spoke about devising a new economic model on the basis of the very vague
concept of stable and balanced growth (Barack Obama). And some (Nicholas
Sarkozy) recalled more concrete decisions, such as restrictions on bonuses
to banks' top managers. But nothing more.
Even the redistribution of quotas in the IMF proved very
controversial. It looks too insignificant for some and too big for others.
Whatever the IMF's Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn might say
about a turn towards the legitimacy and effectiveness of that organization
the Pittsburgh summit saw, ways of reforming that organization remained
behind the screen.
About the role of the dollar and the possibility of the emergence of
new currencies the final documents say nothing.
In a word, in terms of content the summit has remained an "anti-crisis
one." Nothing that might look like an epoch-making reform occurred. The
fundamental question - if today's liberal capitalism has a future and what
will happen to the current international financial system - remained
unanswered.
In the meantime, it were fundamental reforms of the world economy that
the heated debates revolved around when the crisis was in its prime. Now,
that the worst moment of the crisis seems to be in the past, everybody
preferred to forget about such matters. At the same time it was
acknowledged that the national packages of incentives for economies
remained in effect - and that means that the multi-directional vectors are
still in action and the balance of international finances is many miles
away.
And still, even the rather moderate decisions by the G20 summit
inspire certain optimism. Firstly, the non-confrontationist tone of
discussions was achieved far more easily than at the London summit last
spring and in Washington last year.
Observers agree that in that sense the participants in the summit made
the best use of the very favorable political background of international
relations. The world has matured at least to a friendly discussion, if not
joint decisions. Lastly, nobody has ever promised that the journey towards
a harmonious world order will be fast.
For all authoritative analysts the tasks facing the G20 looked
daunting, if at all soluble in the foreseeable future. The economic
imperatives and interests of different countries and groups of countries,
inherited from the past, had drifted two far away from each other, leaving
few reasons to expect an early and successful emergence of a common
economic and financial architecture everybody is in the habit of
discussing at length these days.
At the same time one cannot but acknowledge that the G20 summit at
least erected no new barriers, while the wish to remove the old-time ones,
though it may have eased somewhat, has not vanished altogether.
The G20 also withstood a strong image test. In the morning, right
before the opening of the working session, three Western leaders - Obama,
Sarkozy and Brown - staged a high-profile political demarche to address
Iran with an ultimatum-like demand.
The news instantly made the headlines, and at a certain point it might
seem that the not very impressive achievements of the economic forum may
be pushed hopelessly into the background. Yet, the forum stood firm to
have received a worthy share of world publicity.
One cannot but take note of yet another significant aspect. The summit
saw Obama's successful international debut. It was the first major world
forum the current US president chanced to chair. By making certain
political concessions to partners (revision of the missile defense
policies and recognition of the common interests and a common future of
all countries) Obama prevented them from mounting a direct attack against
the United States over economic matters. Nobody at the summit recalled
that the current crisis emerged in the US. On the other hand, the US
president's calls for starting a new era of international cooperation bore
a distinct flavor of wishful thinking.
Some wits claim it is lax enforcement that compensates for the
harshness of Russian laws. To a certain extent this is true of the
multi-page resolutions international summits often produce. Whether the
G20 forum in Pittsburgh has chances to prove a fortunate exception to the
rule is anyone's guess.

-0-str