What the G20 needs now is a G5.75
If nothing else, the Group of 20 leaders deserve a gold medal in the important global sport of self-congratulation.
In Pittsburgh, the G20 patted themselves on the back for having solved the global financial crisis, and then declared that they, the G20, not other upstarts or pretenders like the G7 or G8, or even, heaven forbid, the United Nations, would now be the masters of the world.
The reality is rather different.
The G20 is wasteful, unwieldy and likely to be inefficient and ineffective, saved from being a complete waste of time by offering a baby-step advance on its predecessor bodies, the G7 and G8 - because at last China and India have seats at the global top table. But if world leaders are to show that they are truly serious about solving the pressing problems of this fragile planet, they now need to create a central commanding subcommittee, which I would call the G5.75 - namely, alphabetically, China, Euroland, India, Japan and the US, with Britain the half-member representing the City of London and the pound, and Russia the quarter-member for political and security issues.
Despite the surfeit of self-congratulation, the 'achievements' of Pittsburgh were modest and expose the limitations of the new body.
Although China and India are full members, they had little say. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is far and away the best economist and the most experienced central banker among heads of government, was not only inaudible but virtually invisible (except for being spotted by his turban tucked in the second row of the obligatory 'family photograph').
President Hu Jintao delivered a useful plea, reminding his fellow leaders the real problem that needed addressing was 'the yawning development gap' between the developed and emerging economies. But even Xinhua ignored the comments of the president in its wrap-up of the summit, which it said 'ended with encouraging outcomes, but key challenges remain'.
The lack of contribution by the big new members was hardly surprising, since the summit was dominated by efforts to clean up the economic mess created in the US and the West, which spread like the plague to Asia and the rest of the world.
A key problem with the G20 is that it has no secretariat, no regular press conferences to keep the leaders honest or any enforcement mechanism for its promises. That's why the G20 has to have a commanding steering subcommittee.
One of the most useful gat herings is of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors twice a year accompanying the spring and annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. They have their privacy, but there is plenty of press on hand to keep them honest.
The sensible answer is to disband the G7 and let the G5.75 take over. It is high time to dissolve the quintuple dipping by the Europeans (France, Germany, Italy, Britain plus a separate chair for the European Union). In the big boys' financial club, it has to be Euroland plus a half-share for Britain, whose currency is outside the euro and has London as a leading global financial centre.
If the squabbling national interests don't like that, they could be given the Bric alternative - which is eight places, four for the old powers plus Brazil, Russia, India and China.
