2015 Event Schedule

Jointly hosted by the G20 Turkish Presidency, World Bank, Islamic Development Bank and TUMSIAD (All Industrialists and Businessmen Association), the “International SME Conference: Leveraging Islamic Finance for SMEs” will be held at the Istanbul Congress Center on October 22-23, 2015.

The conference will bring together the professionals, experts, public and private sector practitioners, policy makers and academicians from all over the world for the future vision of SMEs.

For further information and registration, please visit: http://www.sme-conference.org/

Organized by the OECD in partnership with the G20 and hosted by the Turkish Ministry of the Economy, the 2015 OECD-G20 Global Forum on International Investment will take place back-to-back with the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in Istanbul.

The aim of the Global Forum on International Investment is to support global efforts to promote open, transparent and rules-based investment policy frameworks for growth and sustainable development.

The forum will bring together Ministers and high-level officials from governments and international organizations, as well high-level representatives and experts from business, academia and civil society.

For further information, please visit: http://www.oecd.org/investment/globalforum/

High-Level Side Event
on the margins of the UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015

Hosted by
G20 Turkish Presidency

in collaboration with
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

G20’s CONTRIBUTION
TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SDGs

 Co-chaired by
H.E. Cevdet Yılmaz, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
H.E. Helen Clark, Administrator of the UNDP

 Friday,  25 September 2015
16:30-18:00

Conference Room 11,
UN Headquarters, New York

This high-level side event aims to discuss the G20’s contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The G20 is well placed to contribute, given that it represents two thirds of the world’s population, 75% of global trade and 85% of the global GDP and is also home to around half the world’s poor. G20 can build on its existing development agenda to bring together the private sector, civil society and development partners to help deliver on the ambition of the SDGs.

Side Event Concept Paper
Side Event Room Document (G20’s Contributions to the SDGs)

For further information please contact:
Mr. Mustafa Osman Turan
G20 Turkish Presidency
mturan@mfa.gov.tr
http://g20.org.tr
@G20turkey2015

Organized by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT), the conference aims to provide the grounds for policy makers, sector participants and academicians for a thorough discussion of the different aspects of Islamic finance and its interactions with financial stability, financial inclusion, and SME Financing.

In this context, an indicative set of topics for discussion are highlighted as follows:

• Shedding light on the prevailing role of Islamic finance on financial stability. Risk sharing and its implications for financial stability as well as developing a comparative approach to risk in Islamic finance and its integration with the global financial system will also be discussed.
• The contribution of Islamic finance to financial inclusion.
• SME financing from the Islamic point of view. The highlighted topics will be equity related instruments for SMEs (musharaka, mudaraba etc.) and Islamic equity funds for SME financing and Islamic venture capital.

Academic approach towards Islamic finance and its relation with some specific issues (credit risk, growth, portfolio efficiencies).

Organized by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT), the conference aims to provide the grounds for policy makers, sector participants and academicians for a thorough discussion of the different aspects of Islamic finance and its interactions with financial stability, financial inclusion, and SME Financing.

In this context, an indicative set of topics for discussion are highlighted as follows:

• Shedding light on the prevailing role of Islamic finance on financial stability. Risk sharing and its implications for financial stability as well as developing a comparative approach to risk in Islamic finance and its integration with the global financial system will also be discussed.
• The contribution of Islamic finance to financial inclusion.
• SME financing from the Islamic point of view. The highlighted topics will be equity related instruments for SMEs (musharaka, mudaraba etc.) and Islamic equity funds for SME financing and Islamic venture capital.

Academic approach towards Islamic finance and its relation with some specific issues (credit risk, growth, portfolio efficiencies).

Organized in collaboration with G20 Turkish Presidency, the Undersecretariat of Turkish Treasury, the Insurance Association of Turkey (IAT) and the Global Federation of Insurance Associations (GFIA), this conference aims to provide a forum for insurers and insurance supervisory authorities worldwide to share their concerns on the most challenging issues regarding critical risks facing the insurance and private pension sectors in the near future.

In this context an indicative set of topics for discussion are highlighted as:

• Providing incentives for infrastructure investments by insurance and private pension companies,
• Threats to financial stability from longevity risk and the channels to overcome the longevity risk,
• Promoting financial inclusion through participatory forms of insurance such as takaful and/ or microinsurance,
• Challenges regarding the implementation of Solvency II

The international conference is expected to initiate discussion towards international dialogue and effective coordination among the national and international supervisors and other global stakeholders.

Participants will include high level representatives of insurance companies, pension funds, the Insurance Association of Turkey and the Global Federation of Insurance Associations as well as high level officials and experts from the Undersecretariat of Turkish Treasury and other international insurance supervisory authorities.

Since 2006, PPP (Public Private Partnership) Days has become a leading forum for public sector managers and experts to interact with their peers and experts from other countries and engage in networking activities. This forum is a gathering of public sector agencies working on PPPs, along with Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and other International Financial Institutions (IFIs), international organizations, and leaders from the private sector.

The main theme of PPP Days 2015 is “Achieving global infrastructure uplift: What would it take to double private investment in infrastructure in emerging markets?” This two-day event  will be held in London at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) headquarters.

PPP Days 2015 is an invitation-only event for public and private sector PPP experts and managers. If you would like to attend, please contact: secretariat@pppdays.org

For more information, please visit: http://www.ebrd.com/news/events/publicprivate-partnerships-ppp-days.html

Organized in collaboration with the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey and the Bank of England, this workshop aims to provide a forum for policy makers and academics to share their experiences to mitigate the risks that the International Monetary and Financial System (IMFS) face. In that regard, the workshop discusses the latest research findings and policy recommendations to put the IMFS on a permanently firmer footing.

In this context, an indicative set of questions that are going to be discussed are:

• What are the main challenges currently facing the IMFS?
• What might be the impact of ongoing changes in international regulatory policy on cross border capital flows?
• What roles do the global safety net and its various components play? Which ways could it be strengthened?
• Do the benefits from openness to capital flows outweigh the potential costs? Are capital flows in the form of equity rather than debt more stabilising for the global financial system?

What will be the impact on global capital flows as advanced country monetary policies diverge? Are global current account imbalances dead or alive?

The Roundtable is taking place as part of the OECD “Institutional Investors and Long-Term Investment” Project, launched in February 2012. The aim of the project is to promote long-term investment (LTI), including in real assets such as infrastructure, addressing both potential regulatory and market failures.

Discussions will cover:
–          Access to Finance: Financial Instruments for infrastructure Investment
–          Addressing the risks: Risk Mitigation Techniques for Enabling Infrastructure Investment
–          Infrastructure as an asset class: Bridging the data gap
–          Regulatory environment for institutional investors and long-term investment
–          Infrastructure investment in emerging markets and low income countries

Participants will include high-level representatives of pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds as well as high-level officials and experts from ministries of finance, central banks and international organisations. The Roundtable is being organised back to back with the meetings of the G20/OECD Task Force on Institutional Investors and Long-term Financing and the G20 Investment and Infrastructure Working Group.

For further information, please visit: http://www.oecd.org/daf/fin/private-pensions/2015-g20-oecd-roundtable-institutional-investors-lti.htm

Turkey will host G20 International Tax Symposium, which will be organized by Turkish Ministry of Finance, on 6-8 May in İstanbul.

The aim of the symposium is to discuss developments in international taxation that focus on key items of the G20 tax agenda by gathering together a broad range of stakeholders. The event also aims to ensure that developing and low-income countries benefit from the G20’s work on tax and other related matters.

The event will mainly focus on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and developments in exchange of information between tax administrations. The symposium will provide a broad perspective to the participants about delivered and currently progressing BEPS Action Items. In this context, an indicative list of the sessions is outlined below:

• Addressing BEPS in the digital economy
• Interest deductibility and hybrid mismatch arrangements
• Transfer pricing and its relevance for developing countries
• Data, economic analyses and spill-over effects
• Automatic Exchange of Information
• International consensus on BEPS

• Symposium Agenda
• Practical Information for Participants
• Biographies of the Speakers

This seminar –jointly organized by G20 Presidency and the IMF- will provide an opportunity to exchange views on the role of asset-based financing (Islamic finance) towards the overarching objectives of inclusive growth, SME and infrastructure financing, and financial stability. It is also an occasion to discuss the remaining challenges facing the industry, and to deliberate on policies needed to unlock its growth and safeguard its soundness. The seminar will benefit from the findings and conclusions of the recent study by the IMF on Islamic Finance: Opportunities, Challenges and Policy Options.

The seminar will be moderated by Mr. Naser ElTibi (Al-Arabiya television) and the speakers for the panel include Min Zhu, Deputy Managing Director, IMF, Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz (Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia); Mr. Ali Babacan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Turkey); Dr.Ahmad Mohamed Ali (President of the Islamic Development Bank); and Mr. Pierre Gramegna (Minister of Finance, Luxembourg).

The seminar will be held on Thursday, April 16, 2015 from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm at the Jack Morton Auditorium, George Washington University (805 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052).

The seminar will be open to the public. Participation of policymakers and practitioners is welcome.

Organized in collaboration with the World Bank Group and the Toronto Center, this panel aims to have a better understanding of the pros and cons of market-based finance and the preconditions to support it. To this end, it identifies both past impediments and present challenges to achieve strong and stable capital markets.

In this context, an indicative set of questions that are going to be discussed are:

• How can capital markets enhance finance for governments, infrastructure, and the corporate sector, and what are the potential risks and rewards?
• What is the role of law, regulation, and practice in developing market-based finance vehicles?
• Can countries achieve less borrowing with more equity financing?
• Will more developed capital markets help promote financial stability?
• Can capital market products (e.g., derivatives) enable better risk management?

The 2015 Annual Commonwealth and Francophonie dialogue with the G20 is convened by the Secretariats of the Commonwealth and La Francophonie, together with Turkey as G20 President and Chair of the G20 Development Working Group. The meeting will take place on the 14th April 2015 at the IMF HQ2 Building, Washington DC.

This year’s dialogue will facilitate discussions among members of the Commonwealth, La Francophonie and the G20 on issues of mutual interest, focusing on:

• an update and discussion of G20 Development priorities and actions during Turkey’s 2015 G20 Presidency
• inputs from Commonwealth and Francophonie developing countries on their development priorities and how these could be taken up by the G20 in the period ahead
• delivering inclusive global value chains
• domestic revenue mobilisation and Base Erosion Profit Shifting
• maximising the flow and reducing the costs of remittances

For further information please contact Samantha Attridge: s.attridge@commonwealth.int

An inaugural Caribbean Region Dialogue with the G20 Development Working Group will be convened by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, together with Turkey as G20 President and Chair of the G20 Development Working Group. The meeting will take place on the 13th April 2015 at the IMF HQ2 Building, Washington DC.

The inaugural dialogue will facilitate discussions among Caribbean countries and the G20 on issues of mutual interest, focusing on:

• An update and discussion of G20 Development priorities and actions during Turkey’s 2015 G20 Presidency, reflections on these from the perspective of Caribbean countries and suggestions as to how these can help address some of the priority development challenges of the Caribbean region

• A discussion on the challenges and opportunities in developing the Caribbean Blue Economy

• A dialogue on challenges in strengthening domestic resource mobilisation in the Caribbean region and opportunities to augment resource mobilization for development.

For further information please contact Charlene Ramdhanie: cramdhanie@central-bank.org.tt

Organized in close collaboration with the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, the meeting will discuss the content and the direction of the ongoing review of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance with a particular focus on having the new Principles contribute to  making the financial sector serve the real economy.

The G20-OECD meeting will also address issues of systemic importance to sustainable private sector growth, including the institutionalisation of growth companies  and SMEs  and capital market development in emerging market economies.

For any questions about the meeting, please contact Ms.  Anne Gimenez (Anne.Gimenez@oecd.org) and Mr. Hanifi Koroglu (Hanifi.Koroglu@oecd.org) of the OECD Secretariat.

Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey ( CBRT) will organize a conference in March with the contributions of the International Monetary Fund. Objectives of the conference are as follows: understanding what has been done since the start of Data Gaps Initative ( DGI) in April 2009, learning countries  experiences about challenges they faced in implementation and with the closure of the first phase of DGI, exchange of views on how to structure the second phase to enhance data compiling and data match.

In this context, questions that can be discussed during sessions are:

• Which recommendations of DGI have been implemented by the participants? What were the main challenges participants encountered while implementing the recommendations? How did the participants cope with these challenges?

• What can be done in the future to enchance and sustin the accomplishments achieved between 2010 and 2015? Depending on mutual challenges of the region, what can be suggested to cope with possible obstacles?

• What would be the next step in DGI? What would be needed in terms of data in the future to monitor global economy?

Organized in close collaboration with the Turkish Treasury, this event will offer a unique forum for contributing private-sector perspectives to the G20 leadership. It will provide an opportunity for dialogue between senior official- and private-sector leaders in the international financial community on a range of key G20 agenda topics. Panel discussions will focus on the G20 agenda including inclusive growth and job creation; private sector support for infrastructure investment; financial inclusion; SME funding; financial globalization, the regulatory reform agenda and the B20 agenda. Please click here for the agenda.

For registration and additional information please contact Helene Hatfield at : hhatfield@iif.com

Organized in close collaboration with the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, this workshop aims to have a better understanding of causes and effects of recent oil price movements and its policy implications.

It will mainly discuss the macroeconomic effects of lower oil and commodity prices, recommended policy mix before and after a shock, and lastly the micro dynamics and structure of oil pricing. In this context, an indicative set of questions that are going to be discussed during the sessions are:

• How sustainable are the current levels of oil prices? How likely do other commodities continue to follow this trend?
• What will be the growth effect of falling prices on the global economy? How will the lower prices affect different economies and regions?
• What would be the recommended macroeconomic policy mix (monetary and fiscal) to oil and commodity price shocks?
• What would be the ex-ante and ex-post policy measures against an abrupt volatility increase?
• How could a plausible forecast for oil prices be achieved and where are oil prices heading next?