CIGI Commentaries, July, 2009
Cat's Out of the Bag: China's Currency Challenge
Senior Fellow Gregory Chin discusses the issue of a global currency, the challenges China faces given its vast holdings of US currency and the plausibility of the Chinese RMB becoming a major settlement currency.
The G8's Global Food Security Initiative
The G8 Leaders announced a US$20 billion pledge to boost world food security at their recent summit in L’Aquila. The pledge, greater by US$5 billion than originally anticipated, is a welcome one given that world hunger is on the rise. Indeed, the FAO recently announced that the number of undernourished people on this planet has now surpassed 1 billion. Never before have so many people gone hungry.
Is the G8's Variable Geometry Sustainable?
The days of the traditional G8 Summit are numbered. No longer can these eight powers convene effectively without the strong participation of the major economies of the global South. Pressured by a massive shift in global economic power, and matched by growing fatigue in the G8, a proliferation of different formats have stretched legitimacy across the process. The stage is now set for the next "G" episode, to be played out this week at the G8 L'Aquila Summit in Italy.
G8 Italy: Wrestling Control Back from the G20?
The Italian G8 Presidency looks like it will get a passing grade for the upcoming G8 L’Aquila Summit, for its ability to use the buzzwords of global governance. The Italian G8 Office outlined its goal for the upcoming Summit: to devise a system of global governance that is “open, innovative, fair and sustainable," that is “open” for trade and investment flows; "innovative" in using new and existing ideas; “fair” in being inclusive and giving attention to emerging and vulnerable countries; and “sustainable” in responding to climate change and promoting environmental protection.