The creation of this platform would allow for large pools of investment to be directed toward facilitating the development and diversity of the G20 economies, particularly in critical sectors such as technology, human capital development, healthcare, and infrastructure.
In 2020, the Valdai Discussion Club continued its activities within T20, a G20 engagement group uniting the world’s premier think tanks, with Yaroslav Lissovolik, its programme director, co-authoring a policy brief which proposes the creation of a platform for cooperation among the G20 states’ sovereign wealth funds (SWFs).
The platform should allow for multiple practices that include long-term cooperation, direct investments, and the formation of bilateral/trilateral/multilateral investment accords. Ultimately, it would encourage the G20 states to strengthen their economic cooperation, bolster mutual interests, improve multilateralism, and develop opportunities for their SWFs. Additionally, it would act as an emergency tool in easing the impact of a global crisis, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, as it can be employed as an anti-crisis measure via the investments of the G20 states’ SWFs.
The findings of this policy brief were included in the T20 communiqué, which encourages the G20 to promote “the creation of a platform that would bring together the sovereign wealth funds of its members, possibly in coordination with the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds.” The T20 communiqués contain policy recommendations from the expert community for the G20 leaders, who convened this year for their summit online on November 21-22.
