LONDON, UK
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak headed to his debut G20 summit Sunday urging world powers to unite against exploitation of the global economy by “malign actors”.
After becoming the UK’s third
premier this year, Sunak is set to have his first bilateral meetings with US
President Joe Biden and other world leaders at the summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Beyond supporting Western
unity against Russia over Ukraine, Sunak wants allies to shore up the
international financial system including the World Trade Organization,
according to Downing Street.
Developing nations must have
access to credit for economic growth without becoming reliant on “exploitative”
lenders, Sunak is expected to tell the summit, echoing past G7 criticism of
China.
The WTO should be reformed to
curb the “manipulation of global markets by malign actors”, he will also say in
another coded critique of G20 member China.
Sunak’s pre-summit warnings
against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime have been clearer.
“We will call out Putin’s
regime, and lay bare their utter contempt for the kind of international
cooperation and respect for sovereignty forums like the G20 represent,” he said
in a statement Saturday.
While Putin is not attending
the summit, Sunak’s spokesman said the prime minister would confront Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Bali.
Some pundits had queried
whether Sunak might go soft on Russia in view of the economic crisis affecting
Britain, on the back of surging energy prices.
But Sunak’s spokesman told
reporters that Britain’s support for Ukraine “will not fade or alter”.
In Bali, Sunak “will speak
with our allies in one voice on this”, the spokesman added.
Sunak is due to return to
Britain early on Thursday and head straight into his finance minister’s
presentation of an emergency budget statement.
The statement is expected to
include painful tax hikes and spending cuts, after Sunak’s short-lived predecessor
Liz Truss panicked markets with a spree of unfunded tax cuts.
Sunak said Thursday’s budget
would “set out how we will get this country on the right path”.
“But addressing the biggest
economic crisis in a decade will require a concerted effort by the world’s
largest economies -– these are not problems we can solve alone,” he said before
flying to Bali.
“At the G20, leaders need to
step up to fix the weaknesses in the international economic system which Putin
has exploited for years.” - AFP
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