Progress during Turkey's 2015 G20 Presidency

Ankara (IINA) – Turkey assumed the Group of 20 (G20) Presidency on 1 December 2014, under the theme “Collective Action for Inclusive and Robust Growth” which culminated in the Antalya Summit on 15-16 November 2015, paving the way towards achieving the aim of the G20: strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
Under Turkish Presidency, G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors convened four times. During those meetings, they maintained resolve to carry on implementing sound macroeconomic policies in collective manner to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth. They also agreed on a robust framework to effectively implement country commitments to reach G20’s collective growth ambition, and finalized the work on concrete country-specific investment strategies to support the collective growth objectives. Further, the finance ministers and central bank governors have made notable progress toward finalizing the remaining core elements of the G20 financial regulation agenda this year.
During its presidency, Turkey hosted the meeting of G20 Ministers of Agriculture on 6-8 May 2015 in Istanbul. Agriculture ministers discussed issues pertaining to food security and agreed on the importance of establishing economically, socially and environmentally sustainable food systems.
The G20 Labor and Employment Ministers meeting was held in Ankara on 3-4 September 2015, during which the G20 Labor and Employment Ministerial Declaration was adopted, in addition to the adoption of some important documents on key labor market and employment issues as annexes to the Declaration such as G20 Policy Priorities on Labor Income Share and Inequalities, G20 Skills Strategy, G20 Policy Principles for Promoting Better Youth Employment Outcomes, among others.
On September 4, Turkey hosted a joint meeting between Labor and Finance Ministers, in which discussions were focused on the issues of inequalities and the growth-employment relationship.
The first Energy Ministers Meeting in the history of G20 was held in Istanbul on October 2. The ministers adopted a Ministerial Communique that constitutes a comprehensive framework for improving the cooperation based on the G20 Principles on Energy Collaboration. They also adopted the G20 Energy Access Action Plan and welcomed important documents on energy efficiency such as Report on the G20 Energy Efficiency Action Plan.
The G20 Trade Ministers Meeting was held in Istanbul on October 6. Ministers agreed to work together to develop policies in order to increase the growth in global trade. They also expressed their commitment to support a strong and efficient multilateral trading system where the World Trade Organization (WTO) is at the core.
The informal meeting of G20 Tourism Ministers was took place in Antalya on September 29-30. During the meeting, the ministers highlighted the importance of tourism for G20 employment and growth agenda, and underscored the importance of supporting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the tourism sector.
With regard to activities of the G20 Engagement Groups, Youth-20 (Y20) Summit was held in Istanbul on August 16-21. The meeting brought together under one roof more than 120 delegates from the G20 countries as well as representatives from low Income Developing Countries. They had their deliberations and adopted the Y20 Communique which called on G20 leaders to set a “concrete, quantifiable and collective target on reducing youth unemployment.”
G20 countries agreed, under Turkish Presidency, to establish a new G20 engagement group, the Women-20 (W20), to promote gender inclusive economic growth. The W20 held its first ever summit in Istanbul on October 16-17, with the participation of more than 500 participants and delegates from G20 as well as non-G20 countries.
On September 3-6, the Business-20 (B20) Conference was held in Ankara with the participation of close to 1,500 representatives of the international business community from 61 countries. Recommendations of the summit were submitted to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who attended the opening of the conference.
The B20 and Labor-20 (L20) submitted a Joint Declaration to the G20, entitled “Job, Growth and Decent Work”.
The Civil-20 (C20) Summit was held in Istanbul on September 15-16 with the participation of 450 delegates from more than 50 countries. Four issues of key concern were identified during the summit. They include Inclusive Growth, Gender Equality, Governance (with the focus on International Taxation and Anti-Corruption) and Sustainability, as well as developed policy recommendations corresponding to these areas.
The G20 other engagement groups include Labor-20 and Think-20 which were active in supporting Turkish G20 agenda.
During its G20 Presidency, Turkey also valued direct outreach and dialogue with non-G20 countries, regional groups and institutions and conducted and extensive outreach program through the year.
AB/IINA

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