There is mounting pressure on the G20 to shift from crisis response to a medium-term agenda with demonstrated progress on its agenda topics. A joint conference held from June 6-8, 2011, was the third in a series of conferences organized by The Stanley Foundation, the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), and The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) on the prospects for key influential nations to cooperate on summit diplomacy. Experts from China, Canada and the United States met at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, Virginia, to identify the multilateral frameworks necessary for the G groupings to achieve progress on a wide range of global governance challenges.
Participants at the conference discussed items that are on the current G20 agenda, issues that may or may not be included in the future, and the limits on the expansion of the forum’s agenda. In particular, they noted that it is important to include issues where agreement can be reached in order to build a “win-win” mentality that will help in tackling divisive issues in the future.
This conference report, a co-publication with The Stanley Foundation, the CICIR and CIGI, summarizes the primary findings of the conference as interpreted by the rapporteur, Deanne Leifso, the G20 project officer at CIGI.
