PRESS RELEASE
5th Annual Dialogue Between G20 and Members of the Commonwealth and Francophonie Held in Washington DC
Turkey, as the G20 Presidency, together with some members of the G20 Development Working Group (DWG) held the fifth Annual Dialogue with members of the Commonwealth and La Francophonie (CF) in Washington DC on the 14th of April. Participants included Ministers and senior government officials from CF member states, the Turkish G20 Presidency and Development Working Group, as well as international and regional organisations. Participants welcomed an update by Ambassador Emre Yunt, Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, on behalf of the G20 Presidency, highlighting the key policy priorities for the 2015 G20 development agenda. In response to this update, CF delegates highlighted a range of development concerns related to food security, energy and infrastructure in particular. Other areas included the Blue Economy and the urgent need to strengthen responses to climate change. The need for an objective approach to defining countries’ priority needs was...
Inaugural Regional Dialogue held between Caribbean Countries and the G20
Upon the initiative by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, Turkish G20 Presidency and other members of the G20 Development Working Group held an inaugural regional consultation with the member countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on the 13th of April on the margins of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC. Jointly chaired by Turkey’s G20 Sherpa Ambassador Ayse Sinirlioglu, and Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambaran of Trinidad and Tobago, the dialogue brought together Caribbean Ministers, Central Bank Governors and senior officials of Caribbean countries with the G20 DWG. Regional and international organisations also attended. During the meeting, Ambassador Sinirlioğlu, provided an update on the G20 DWG’s development policy agenda, including infrastructure, domestic resource mobilization, human resource development, financial inclusion and remittances as well as food security and nutrition. Participants exchanged views on how Caribbean countries can more directly benefit from the 2015 DWG...
Second G20 Development Working Group Meeting held in Ankara
The second meeting of the G20 Development Working Group (DWG) under Turkey’s G20 Presidency was held in Ankara on 9-10 April 2015. Representatives of G20 members, invited countries and international organizations attended the meeting. In the second DWG meeting, progress to date this year under the following five priority work areas of the DWG was discussed: Domestic Resource Mobilization Financial Inclusion and Remittances Food Security and Nutrition Human Resource Development Infrastructure In the DWG meeting, delegates discussed matters related to progressing the G20 development agenda under the five priority areas. Delegates also exchanged views on Turkey’s proposal to take forward new work on inclusive business, and evaluated the outcomes and key messages which emerged from the G20-B20 Workshop on Inclusive Business held on 8 April 2015 in Ankara, one day before the DWG meeting. Enhancing policy coherence and coordination between the DWG and other G20 work streams was another...
Turkey hosted G20-B20 Workshop on “Inclusive Business”
Ankara, 8 April 2015. Turkey, as the Presidency of the G20 for 2015, hosted representatives from government, business and academia from G20 countries for a one day workshop on “Inclusive Business” (IB) in Ankara on Wednesday, the 8th of April. IB is a private sector approach to providing goods, services, and livelihoods on a commercially viable basis to people at the base of the pyramid by making them part of the value chain of companies’ core business as suppliers, distributors, retailers, or customers. The workshop has built upon the G20’s previous IB–related work and the knowledge generated within the IB field to–date in order to address how the policy environment can advance opportunities for private sector companies to reach the poor. Keynote speakers included Mr. Ivar Blanken, Unilever VP of Finance, Professor Ted London of University of Michigan and Professor Zeynep Gürhan-Canlı of Koç University. In the session on...
Second Meeting of the Framework Working Group held in Kumarakom
The second meeting of the G20 Framework Working Group (FWG) was held in Kumarakom, Kerala, India on 23-24 March 2015. Representatives of the G20 members, invited countries and international organizations participated in this meeting. Prior to the meeting, a seminar on the quantification process of the growth strategy commitments was held. During the meeting, participants have examined in detail the recent global economic outlook and the challenges. Additionally, members discussed how to make the accountability mechanism more robust and consistent in order to help effective and timely implementation of the Growth Strategy commitments. Participants have also elaborated on the further work on the Growth Strategies to ensure they remain relevant, including a possible focus on inequalities and imbalances in the second half of the year. The third meeting of FWG will be in Rome, Italy on 28-29 May 2015. Related NewsThird Meeting of Framework Working Group held in Rome10000G20...
First Meeting of G20 Agricultural Deputies convened in Ankara
G20 Agricultural Deputies met in Ankara on 23rd March to begin preparation of the meeting of G20 Agriculture Ministers on 8th May. The main focus was on developing the draft of the communiqué the ministers will release. May’s meeting will be only the second meeting of G20 Agriculture Ministers – the first was in 2011 under the French Presidency. It will be a major political event in the G20 calendar and an integral part of the Turkish Presidency. It is expected to play an important role in achieving policy coherence and driving progress on major global issues in agriculture and food...
Fifth Annual High Level Conference on Anti-Corruption organized in Istanbul
The Fifth Annual High Level Conference on Anti-Corruption, jointly organised by the Turkish G20 Presidency and the OECD was held in Istanbul on 6 March 2015 with a theme of “Placing Integrity at the Heart of Business Culture”. G20 ACWG members, invited representatives of national and international business, civil society, academics and members of the media attended the Conference. With inclusiveness, implementation and investment (3I’s) at the centre of Turkey’s G20 Presidency agenda, the fight against corruption is instrumental to ensure that all businesses, from SMEs to MNEs, play their part in contributing to growth and investment, and can operate with clean hands in a safe business environment. In this context, the Conference aimed at reinforcing the cooperation between governments, private sector and civil society, thereby supporting the implementation of the G20 ACWG agenda on promoting private sector transparency and integrity. Mr. Yunus Arıncı, Chairman of the Prime Ministry...
First G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group Meeting held in Istanbul
The first G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) Meeting was held in Istanbul on 4-5 March 2015. G20 members, invited countries and international organizations attended the meeting. Representatives of the B20 and Transparency International also attended certain sessions held on the 2nd day of the ACWG meeting. The meeting was the first ACWG meeting under the Turkish Presidency and offered an important opportunity to kick-off the implementation of G20 2015-2016 Anti-Corruption Work Plan. Mr. Selahaddin Menteş, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice of Turkey attended the meeting and made opening remarks. Turkey and the United States, as the Co-Chairs of the G20 ACWG, made presentations on the 2015 priorities and workplan. Discussions then continued on the following topics covered by 2015-2016 G20 ACWG Action Plan. Private Sector Transparency and Integrity Partnership with Business and Civil Society Beneficial Ownership Transparency(BO) Public Sector Transparency and Integrity Immunities from Prosecution Asset- Financial...
First Employment Working Group Meeting Held in Antalya
First Employment Working Group Meeting was held on 26-27 February 2015 in Antalya The first G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) Meeting was held in Antalya on 26-27 February 2015 with the participation of the members of the EWG, representatives of international organizations and invited countries. Representatives of L20 and B20 as well as T20 also attended to certain sessions in order to discuss outreach activities of the EWG. The meeting was the first EWG meeting under Turkish Presidency and actually the first official G20 EWG meeting with the transformation of the former G20 Task Force on Employment (TFE) into the current EWG. The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to review achievements, to address the challenges that remain, and to discuss the way forward. The meeting started with the opening remarks by Mr. Erhan Batur, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Turkey and the co-Chair...
G20-OECD Conference on Promoting Quality Apprenticeships Held in Antalya
2nd G20-OECD Conference on Promoting Quality Apprenticeships was held on 25 February 2015 in Antalya The Conference was attended by the members of G20 Employment Working Group, representatives of B20, L20 and international organisations as well as CEOs of some companies. The Conference, which was jointly organized by Turkey and the OECD, was one of the side events organized under the employment track of Turkey’s G20 Presidency. At the opening session of the Conference, Turkey’s Minister of Labour and Social Security H.E. Mr. Faruk Çelik welcomed delegates and wished success to the Conference. Minister Çelik shared his views and vision on apprenticeship and on-the-job training practices in Turkey. Also, Director of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs of the OECD Mr. Stefano Scarpetta, L20 Turkey Organization Committee Chair Mr. Ergün Atalay and B20 Employment Task Force Co-chair Mr. Ali Koç made some introductory remarks at the opening session. Composed of...
