Obama brings air of thaw at G-20 summit

By Imola Unger

The top 20 world leaders met last Thursday in London to discuss strategies to improve the current world economy. The G-20 summit was of crucial importance in reaching an international agreement and developing strategies that could efficiently end the crisis and put the world economy back on track. However, China and France refused to sign the final communiqué, thus reeling close to danger the success of the meeting.

American President Barack Obama seemed to have cracked the ice at the G-20 meeting when smoothing the serious dispute between the two states, encouraging a more dynamic approach to the summit. As Obama later remarked, the meeting was a further proof that the world is no longer ruled by an exclusive group of a few Western superpowers. Now all countries have a say and are given the opportunity of substantial involvement in international matters, with promising results.

However, even though a general consensus was reached by the 20 leaders and the meeting was pronounced successful, little has been said to the effect of immediate action and short-term recovery. In an anti-protectionist atmosphere, increasing the presence of the IMF, a $1.1 trillion bailout of developing countries, stimulation of the world trade, and the regulation of financial firms were the main measures the participants agreed on, failing to provide satisfaction to those who sought immediate and concrete remedy to mending the economy in the largest countries affected by the crisis. That the all-affecting question of the environment was only mentioned fleetingly , in broad terms, gave way to further public dissatisfaction with the summit.

However, lenience seems to have gone a longer way than perseverance, and the kinds of compromises reached are an inevitable asset of summits between such a number of countries, all with their own problems and interests. Navigating the sometimes stormy waters of the discussion brought more efficient results than obstinately repeating an unswayable point. This approach seems to signal a new kind of rhetoric in international dialog, and the pledges reached thus leave ample way for the individual countries to implement the measures decided upon as they see fit.