G20 - Italian Presidency

 The world is facing many difficult challenges today, which the G20 is intensely working to address, by identifying – and implementing – shared, coordinated and equitable responses. This requires vision, dialogue, mutual understanding, and a profound awareness of our common global responsibilities.

The pandemic has had profound impacts on the health of humans worldwide. It has affected peoples’ livelihoods, our economies, international trade. It has added its burden onto other systemic problems, from climate change to inequality, which are hampering our ability to fully prosper and express our potential. It has also made one thing clear: we live in an era in which local problems swiftly become global challenges. This, however, also means that we can work together to recover from this crisis and seize the opportunity to build back better, learning from our shared experience and ensuring that efficient, innovative tools and technologies become the basis for a more resilient, sustainable and greener growth.

In an increasingly interconnected world, multilateralism is far more than an abstract concept. It is the key to responding to these challenges, and the G20, bringing together much of the world’s population and of the global economy, must live up to its role. This is why the 2021 G20, under the Italian Presidency, will focus on three broad, interconnected pillars of action: People, Planet, Prosperity.

Within these pillars, we are taking the lead in ensuring a swift international response to the pandemic - able to provide equitable, worldwide access to diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines - while building up resilience to future health-related shocks.

We are also looking beyond the crisis, towards ensuring a quick recovery that addresses people’s needs. This implies a focus on reducing inequalities, on women’s empowerment, on the younger generations and on protecting the most vulnerable. It means promoting the creation of new jobs, social protection and food security.

The G20 is also intent on paving the way to rebuilding differently in the aftermath of the crisis. More efficiently, through a better use of renewable energies and with a firm commitment to protecting our climate and our common environment.

This is a prerequisite for our sustained prosperity. A prosperous future, however, also requires that we properly harness the main drivers of growth and innovation. We are working to bridge the digital divide and make digitalization an opportunity for all, improve productivity and – in short – to leave no one behind.