Last October¡¯s Group of 20 leaders¡¯ summit ¡ª held in Rome and hosted by then-Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi ¡ª produced a declaration brimming with promises to ¡°address today¡¯s most pressing global challenges¡± and ¡°converge upon common efforts to recover better from the COVID-19 crisis and enable sustainable and inclusive growth¡± across the world.

What a difference a year makes.

The promise of 2021 should not be understated. The Leaders¡¯ Declaration that the Rome summit produced included noble pledges to give ¡°particular regard to the needs of the most vulnerable.¡± When it came to global public goods, the 61-paragraph document covered virtually every base, from food security to the circular economy, from the environment to the international financial architecture.