From basics to breakthroughs: priorities and potential for the UK’s G20 presidency and beyond

From basics to breakthroughs: priorities and potential for the UK’s G20 presidency and beyond

In 2027, the UK will assume the presidency of the G20, following the US in 2026 and ahead of South Korea in 2028. This gives the UK government, under a new Prime Minister, a significant platform to advance its interests and promote international cooperation across global challenges, but also a real challenge in forging consensus amid intense strategic competition and divisions within the G20 itself.

This one-night workshop, hosted by the Ditchley Foundation in partnership with the New Economics Foundation, brings together government officials from the UK and other G20 countries, international economists, think tanks and civil society to explore the potential of the UK's G20 Presidency. Run independently of the UK government but designed to inform its planning at a time of transition, it will host leading members of the G20 team to reflect their thinking thus far.

Discussion will focus on practical avenues for progress on global sustainable prosperity amid strategic competition, asking how the 2027 Presidency's priorities are shaping up and how they can be made to matter to citizens. What are the most pressing global macroeconomic challenges that the Presidency will face? And how might it sherpa the process in the context of a back-to-basics approach following four years of broadening direction set by Global South presidents? How might climate, energy transition, development finance, inequality, AI and migration feature? And what areas of consensus could produce concrete outputs?

This workshop is the second of two Ditchley-NEF sessions exploring the UK's role in a changing multilateral and global economic governance landscape.