Singapore is invited to the G20 Summit in Hamburg, held from July 7 to 8 this year.

We’ve compiled a list of 5 interesting things you need to know about the summit, you know, in case somebody asks you about it.

1) G20 technically only has 19 members

G20 summit is an annual meeting of the world’s major economic players. By the way, G20 stands for Group of 20.

They are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

The twentieth member is the European Union.

Together, these countries account for 80 per cent of the world’s GDP. Every year, they will meet to discuss the most pressing global issues.

2) Why is Singapore invited to G20?

Singapore is not a G20 member but is invited to the Summit as a representative of the Global Governance Group (3G).

The 3G is made up of 30 small and medium-sized countries which includes Singapore!

Basically, the G20 membership is exclusive to nations with greater economic impact. Smaller countries would not have a voice in there. But it’s important to have the non-G20 countries’ views considered at the G20 discussions since all decisions would affect all countries including the smaller ones.

This is the reason why Singapore decided to take the lead and represent the smaller nations at the G20 summit. So it’s main role is to encourage stronger linkages between the G20 and the broader UN membership.

3) PM Lee finally meets Trump

PM Lee will be having bilateral meetings with world leaders like US President Trump on the sidelines of the summit.

PM spoke to President Trump twice on the phone – on 2nd Dec last year and 30th April this year. They are finally meeting face-to-face for the first time in Germany!

What do you think is the first thing PM Lee will say to Trump? Make a guess.

4) One key issue to watch

It’s Trump’s first time at the Summit as President of United States. And we know by now, changes in the US policy under the Trump administration have caused many G20 members to feel uncomfortable.

One main issue to watch is on climate. Trump recently decided to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement which aims to tackle the climate change issue with substantive actions.

Germany is the host for this year’s Summit and Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, has made it crystal clear that they intend to use the summit to defend the Paris climate agreement.

Will Trump have a head-on clash with Merkel over this issue? We’ll see.

5) 20,000 police officers deployed

Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to protest at the convention centre. They are against globalization – what they say is corporate greed and a failure to tackle climate change.

The police have already started to use water cannon to disperse some 500 anti-capitalist protesters.

About 20,000 police officers, with dogs, horses and helicopters and 7.8km of steel barriers will be deployed for the summit.

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