The G20 Summit, formally known as the “Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy”, is the “premier forum for international economic cooperation”, agreed by leaders at the Pittsburgh Summit in September 2009. G20 represents more than 80% of the global GDP and seeks to achieve robust global economic growth and address a wide range of global issues which have an immense impact on the global economy, such as development, climate change, and energy, health, counter-terrorism, as well as migration and refugees with the overall aim to realize an inclusive and sustainable world through its contributions towards resolving these global issues.
In 2019 Japan has a presidency and hosts G20 Summit in Osaka on June 28-29th. In parallel, several ministerial meetings on agriculture, trade and the digital economy, tourism, finance, energy transition and sustainable growth will take place at eight different locations
Japan’s government promises to promote free trade and innovation for achieving both economic growth and reduction of disparities, and contributing to the development agenda and other global issues with the SDGs at its core. Through these efforts, Japan seeks to realize and promote a free and open, inclusive and sustainable, “human-centered future society.” In addition, Japan’s government is planning to lead discussions on the supply of global commons for realizing global growth such as quality infrastructure and global health and take strong leadership in discussions aimed towards resolving global issues such as climate change and ocean plastic waste.
Other discussions will include the digital economy from an institutional perspective and implications of aging society for digital society. Japan will also highlights into the national efforts to increase productivity amid a super-smart “Society 5.0” era, towards achieving a society where all individuals are actively engaged. Japan aims at creating a new society in which various social challenges can be solved by incorporating the innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (e.g. Internet of Things [IoT], artificial intelligence (AI), big data, robots, and the shared economy) into every industry of the economy and every aspect of the social life (Kawai, 2018)These efforts will raise economic growth and, at the same time, expand markets. The G20 leaders are also encouraged to consider utilizing the digital technologies for improving social conditions and resolving various social challenges to move to a smart society such as “Society 5.0”.
