G20 china_web

Strengthening the G20 system
KEY TAKEAWAYS
China has invited UN representatives
to the G20 Hangzhou Summit
The G20 can use the broad platform of
the UN to reach non-G20 members
US President Barack Obama and
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Cooperation between
the United Nations
and the G20
The United Nations and the G20 should work together more
often and more closely to help implement the 2030 Agenda
and other initiatives, writes Guo Shuyong
With 193 members,
the United Nations
is the largest global
intergovernmental
organisation. It
features great global representativeness,
standardisation, authority and legitimacy.
It is the fundamental institution for
the global governance of security, the
economy, culture and society, and plays a
role as a global constitutional institution.
In contrast, the G20 consists of a
limited number of members. Nonetheless
it represents two-thirds of the world
population and 85 per cent of its gross
domestic product. It has become the
hub of the global economic governance
network and developed into a new type
of coordination mechanism in the North-
South relationship. G20 members are core
members of the UN, significant in economic
affairs as well as politics and culture.
Mutual support
The United States is a major creator and
policy implementer of the UN and the G20.
It dominates both organisations. The UN
works to safeguard the international order,
while the G20 works to coordinate and
protect the order in a specific field.
The UN’s advantages are its legitimacy,
institutionalisation and power of
international mobilisation; the G20’s are its
flexibility, efficiency and feasibility.
The G20 can use the broad platform
of the UN to strengthen ties between its
members and non-G20 members to make
the sustainable development agenda fit
better and guarantee the achievability of
its implementation. In turn, because of the
G20’s financial support and coordinating
234 G20 China: The Hangzhou Summit • September 2016 G7G20.com