Turkey continues to carry out its outreach activities of its G20 Presidency in an effort to inform and interact with the countries and international organizations outside the G20. In this context, Turkey’s G20 Sherpa Ambassador Ayşe Sinirlioğlu was in New York from 20 to 24 April and in Bangkok from 26 to 28 May 2015 to address the UN General Assembly and UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) 71st Meeting respectively.
In New York, G20 Sherpa Ambassador Sinirlioğlu, during her address to the UN General Assembly, presented the priorities of the Turkish G20 Presidency framed around three “Is”: Inclusiveness, Implementation and Investments as well as the progress achieved to date. She emphasized that Turkey has placed development at the centre of its G20 Presidency agenda in 2015, considering high-level conferences to take place throughout the year on financing for development in July in Addis Ababa, on sustainable development goals (SDGs) and post-2015 agenda (in September in New York and on the climate change in Paris in December. Ambassador Sinirlioğlu also highlighted the concrete ways and means in which the G20 is contributing to the global development agenda, including through its work on tax, remittances, infrastructure, food security, human resource development and inclusive business.
During her visit to New York, Turkey’s G20 Sherpa met with the members of the Global Governance Group (3G) in a meeting hosted by the Permanent Mission of Singapore to the UN as well as with the high-level officials of the UN Institutions and Specialized Agencies.
In Bangkok, during the 71st Session of UNESCAP, a special luncheon event on “G20 Antalya Summit: Perspectives from Asia and the Pacific” was organized on 27 May to discuss the agenda of the upcoming G20 Antalya Summit which is also important for the Low Income Developing Countries (LIDCs) in the Asia-Pacific region.
Following the welcome remarks by Shamshad Akhtar, Under-Secretary-General of the UN, Executive Secretary of ESCAP and UN Sherpa to the G20, Ambassador Ayşe Sinirlioğlu, gave a briefing on “Turkish G20 Presidency Agenda and Priorities” and answered questions from the audience. The briefing was attended by heads of delegations to the 71st Session of UNESCAP, including President of Nauru, Prime Ministers of Cook Islands, Fiji and Tuvalu, Deputy Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, and by officials from diplomatic missions, international organizations and the UN.
Turkey’s efforts to reach out to the members of the UN and to further strengthen the two-way dialogue have been highly appreciated both in New York and in Bangkok. Participants stated that G20 plays an important role in complementing and supporting the role of the UN in tackling global challenges of the 21st century and that the priorities of the Turkish G20 Presidency are well-aligned with those of the UN.
