The 16th G20 Summit was hosted by Italy on 30 to 31 October 2021 in Rome. The theme chosen by Italy for their Presidency of the G20 was People, Planet, Prosperity, with a focus on four broad thematic areas:
- Recovery from the pandemic and global health governance
- Economic recovery and resilience
- Climate Change
- Sustainable Development and Food Security
Key highlights from the G20 Calendar under the Italian Presidency have been the Global Health Summit (in partnership with the European Union); the first ever G20 Joint meeting of the Foreign and Development Ministers; a standalone meeting of the Development Ministers that focused on food security; the first meeting of G20 Research Ministers; a Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment; and a joint meeting of the Health and Finance Ministers.
The Rome Declaration was adopted by G20 Leaders at the Global Health Summit in May 2021, which called for promotion of strong multilateral cooperation towards ending the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting recovery and to continue contributing joint efforts to better prevent, detect, and respond to global health risks and emergencies. The G20 also signed the “Matera Declaration on Food Security and Nutrition” to address issues of food security, malnutrition, and hunger by focusing on transformation of the agriculture sector.
The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors also endorsed the Final Political Agreement on a two-pillar solution to address tax challenges, marking the most significant global tax reform in over a century, which will mandate multinational companies to pay a minimum tax of 15% in the countries of their operation.
In addition, Italy also convened an Extraordinary Leaders’ Summit on Afghanistan, which was preceded by a meeting of Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan, to discuss the G20’s role in responding to the crisis in Afghanistan, especially on ensuring humanitarian access, maintaining security and fighting terrorism, and issues of mobility and migration. A Chair’s statement was issued following the summit, which spoke about the advocacy role of the G20 within the international community to fully support United Nations (UN) activities and respond to UN appeals on humanitarian assistance and called on the Taliban to rescind their links with terrorist groups.
