Tulisan Bersama 4 Menteri Keuangan

Saya bersama Menteri Keuangan Australia Josh Frydenberg, Menteri Keuangan Singapura Heng Swee Keat dan Menteri Keuangan Kanada Bill Morneau menerbitkan sebuah tulisan bersama yang dimuat di beberapa media internasional.

Dalam tulisan tersebut kami menyampaikan pentingnya semangat menjaga kerjasama antar negara melalui multilateralisme. Kemajuan dunia dalam mengurangi kemiskinan dan meningkatkan kesejahteraan masyarakat dari negara berkembang sangat ditentukan oleh kerjasama tersebut.

Ketidakpastian global yang terjadi saat ini akibat hilangnya semangat kerjasama dan kepercayaan terhadap mekanisme multilateralisme. Hal ini sangat merugikan pertumbuhan ekonomi dunia dan mengancam stabilitas ekonomi dengan meningkatkan ketidakpastian global.

Perlu dikembalikan semangat kolektif antar negara untuk membangun kerjasama dan mengembalikan kepercayaan terhadap mekanisme multilateral dalam rangka menjaga kepentingan semua negara secara efektif, adil, transparan dan akuntabel.

Kemajuan yang telah diraih harus dipertahankan dan kelemahan serta ketidakadilan harus dikoreksi secara konstruktif.

Berikut tulisan lengkapnya:

Multilateralism: A pillar of economic stability

Since the Bretton Woods system was agreed to more than 70 years ago, nations have been coming together in pursuit of global public goods. These efforts have given us the international trading system and the global financial safety net. This is multilateralism in action, and it has been a pillar of our shared success.

The free flow of trade, investment and ideas has helped to lift more people out of poverty than ever before. Prosperous and growing middle classes are broadening opportunities for the exchange of goods, services and innovation across the world.

The multilateral system provides economic and political security to allow both big and small countries to fulfill their tremendous potential.

As beneficiaries of this system, we have a responsibility to safeguard the institutions that have led to our shared economic success. We need to work together to forge consensus on pressing global challenges.

At this moment, rising trade tensions are a serious concern. While we acknowledge that there are legitimate issues that must be addressed, the risks of collateral damage are growing.

Uncertainty over the outlook is contributing to a slowdown in trade and manufacturing activity. We have seen a return of financial market volatility, currency instability and decreased capital flows to emerging economies. Dampened global trade conditions are affecting investor confidence, business investment and productivity. Growth has slowed and risks remain tilted to the downside. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund continue to revise down their economic growth forecasts.

We must not resort to unilateralism and protectionism. Pursuing confrontation over dialogue will only exacerbate risks, erode confidence and weaken the prospect of global economic recovery. Compromise is key to achieving win-win outcomes, as well as trust that others are sticking to the agreed rules.

Multilateralism relies upon the core principles of nondiscrimina-tion, predictability and transparency. We abide by these principles because we know that they work.

In 2008, economic leaders from around the world -- especially among Group of 20 economies - came together to safeguard the global economy. Leaders took decisive and coordinated actions that were widely acknowledged as having boosted consumer and business confidence and supported the first stages of economic recovery. And the G20 went on to put in place the reforms needed to promote financial stability through more coordinated and stronger regulation and oversight.

More recently, G20 leaders re-sponded to growing concerns about corporate tax avoidance. In November 2015, they agreed on a strategy to ensure that multinational profits are taxed in the country where economic activity occurs. This consensus demonstrated a commitment to fairness, transparency and accountability on a complex cross-border challenge.

In the current global environment, it is this sort of leadership and cooperation that we need. The G20 is an important forum for global leaders to agree on solutions to our shared problems. Small enough to be efficient yet large enough to be representative of global voices, the G20 creates an opportunity for compromise and progress.

But there are legitimate concerns that the multilateral system is struggling to manage the complexity of today\'s global economy.

We must come together to find concrete solutions. Some obvious ways forward involve taking an honest look at our trading system, reforming multilateral institutions, and developing a multilateral agreement on digital taxation.

These are each separate issue but must be dealt with in the same way: through multilateral dialogue and consensus-building.

As upcoming G20 presidents, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and India will have the opportunity and the important responsibility of setting the G20\'s strategic direction over the next three years.

The G20 must continue to support an open trading system and a global financial safety net that can withstand times of crisis. Significant progress can also be made on problems like infrastructure investment and disaster resilience. There is also value in sharing our experiences addressing national challenges such as the future of work, women\'s economic empowerment and competition policy.

Harking back to its origins in the global financial crisis, the G20 needs to continue to build mutual understanding and cooperation, so that it can continue to uphold and support multilateral problem-solving in the event of another economic crisis.

To rebuild lost confidence, our multilateral system needs newfound strength to withstand the complexity of our current circumstances. This is not something that one or two countries can do alone. All of us must play a role in restoring the system that has contributed so much to our shared growth and prosperity over the past 70 years.

Our collective determination and wisdom can return the global economy onto a more positive path. As senior ministers, we will use all our energies to encourage cooperation on the global challenges we face together.

Josh Frydenberg/Heng Swee Keat/Sri Mulyani Indrawati/Bill Morneau

Jakarta, 16 September 2019

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