G20 Reps Close Another Meeting Without Any Firm Commitments on Vaccines or Debt Relief For World’s Poorest Countries

In what’s becoming a predictable routine, high-level representatives from the world’s wealthiest countries get together, express anguish over the rapid spread of COVID-19 in developing countries, issue a call for more equitable distribution of vaccines and then restate longstanding positions that bilateral creditors (read China) and bondholders must do more to restructure the debts of the world’s poorest countries.

That script played out almost verbatim this weekend at the Group of 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting that wrapped up in Venice, Italy on Saturday.

  • Get a daily email packed with the latest news and analysis from Africa, Asia, and across the Global South.
  • Read exclusive insights on the key trends shaping China’s relations across the Global South.
  • Full access to the News Feed that provides daily updates on Chinese engagement in the Global South.

China, Africa and the Global South... find out what’s happening.

Subscribe today for unlimited access.

OR

Already a subscriber? Log in Click Here to Learn More
by Eric Olander

Most Read

1
Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
2
Uncertainty Roils Minerals Markets
3 From J-10C to Kaan? Indonesia’s Fighter Jet Deal With Turkey Shocks Chinese Military Fans
4 Chinese Military Fans Discuss Why Indonesia Bought Rafale Instead of J-10C
5
Indonesia Goes Nuclear, Taps China and Russia for Modular Reactors
6
Chinese Cargo Planes Secretly Ferrying Supplies to Iran, Claim Online Sleuths

You Might Like

Did China’s FOCAC Financial Package Go Down? Stay the Same? Or Go Up? It’s Too Early to Tell

The main story from this year’s FOCAC, at least according to Bloomberg and the Financial Times, is that “debt traps” and “debt concerns” prompted China to scale back ...

World Bank Chief’s Criticism of AfDB Lending Practices Also Reflects Broader U.S. Anxiety About Chinese Debt in Africa

Officials at the African Development Bank (AfDB) are still smarting over last week’s comments by World Bank president David Malpass who accused the AfDB of having “a tendency to ...

With an Eye on China, G7 Finance Ministers Call on G20 Bilateral Creditors to Keep Their Debt Freeze Promises

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hosted a teleconference with his fellow finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich countries on Monday and the burgeoning debt crisis in the world’s poorest countries was ...

G7 Finance Ministers Openly Frustrated With China on Debt Relief

Debt relief for developing countries is emerging as the latest front in China’s rapidly escalating confrontation with the U.S, European countries, and Japan. Finance ministers from many of those countries, representing the Group ...

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.

More about CGSP