G20 is the premier platform for international economic cooperation. G20 was
born out of the necessity to develop joint responses against challenges
brought by economic crises of 1997, and 1998. First meeting of G20
countries was held in 1999 at the level of Finance Ministers and Central
Bank Governors. G20 countries are as follows:
Europe: Turkey, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russian Federation, and EU
America: USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil
Asia-Pacific: China, India, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Australia
Africa: South Africa
Middle East: Saudi Arabia
G20 represents 90% of global economy, 80% of world trade and 2/3 of world
population. It brought together advanced and emerging economies around the
same table. As such, G20 platform plays a crucial role in developing
comprehensive responses to several challenges the world economy has faced.
In 2008, G20 Leaders had their first meeting amid the global financial
crisis.
G20’s core agenda is to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced global
growth and to create quality jobs. To this end, G20 has taken up not only
financial issues but also development, energy, employment, anticorruption
and trade in order to assist reform of the global financial architecture
and economic structure.
Chair of G20 for 2020 is Saudi Arabia. The theme of the Saudi Arabian
Presidency is “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All” along
with three complementary priorities: empowering people, safeguarding the
planet and shaping new frontiers.
G20 Presidency will be assumed by Italy in 2021 and by India in 2022.
Turkey and G20
Turkey attaches high importance to G20 as a forum bringing together
advanced and emerging economies. Therefore, it actively supports to further
develop G20 agenda.
Turkey was G20 Chair in 2015 and hosted Leaders’ Summit in Antalya on 15-16
November 2015. Turkish G20 Presidency aimed to focus on developing more
inclusive global growth, enhancing investments, and effectively
implementing previous commitments. Therefore, Turkey defined its G20
Presidency priorities with three I’s, namely Inclusiveness, Investment, and
Implementation.
During Turkish G20 Presidency, G20 agreed on a target to reduce youth
unemployment by 15% by 2025, adopted a set of policy recommendations to
reduce inequalities and established Women 20 as a full-fledged engagement
group to promote gender inclusive economic growth. These actions
contributed to create an inclusive economic growth within G20 members.
Turkish G20 Presidency also focused to take steps towards creating an
inclusive economic growth across the world. To this end, G20 Leaders
adopted a framework in Antalya to strengthen the dialogue between G20 and
low income developing countries. Furthermore, Turkish Presidency placed
development issues at the heart of its G20 agenda and concrete actions were
agreed by G20 Leaders on food security, role of private sector in
development and remittances. Turkey also focused to assist SMEs
particularly in terms of enhancing their access to finance and better
integration to global value chains.
Turkish G20 Presidency brought to the agenda of the Leaders issues related
to global peace and security as these issues are highly related to achieve
sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Therefore, G20 Leaders discussed
fight against terrorism and refugee crises in Antalya. First time in G20
history, Leaders agreed on a strong statement on fight against terrorism as
well as underscored the importance of solidarity and effective cooperation
to tackle the refugee crisis.