G20 Monitor: G20 Outreach to Society in 2015

Lowy Institute

30/10/2015

"G20 engagement group representatives from Business (B20), Civil Society (C20), Labour (L20), Think Tanks (T20), Women (W20), and Youth (Y20) have contributed to the 18th issue of the G20 Monitor. The representatives address how their groups have contributed to the G20 process in 2015, their priorities for the G20, and what would constitute success in terms of possible outcomes from the Antalya Summit.

Feride İnan and Ussal Sahbaz of TEPAV explain the Think 20 process in their article “Turkey’s 2015 Think 20”. They advocate for the G20 to move in radically different directions from the other engagement groups by thinking ‘outside the box’ in 2015. The T20 in 2015 has placed inclusive participation at the centre of their efforts and enlarged the T20 agenda to include topics that are currently outside of the G20’s current focus. In particular, İnan and Sahbaz argue that the G20 needs to expand its remit to include a focus on technology and innovation, and the Turkish T20 chairs are seeking to launch a Global Policy Dialogue Platform at the Antalya Summit. The T20 does not see itself as an advocacy platform, and at the time of publishing, T20 Turkey has not delivered a set of concrete, specific recommendations to advance the G20’s agenda.

Jeffrey Hardy of International Chamber of Commerce notes that the 2015 B20 Summit was the most well-attended event in the B20’s six-year history. The B20 Turkey has been exceptionally successful in engaging with the other groups, most notably with the Think 20, through TEPAV’s role in leading the content provision to the B20 taskforces. The B20 has put forward 19 recommendations to address key challenges including: the need for more trade and investment; safely regulated infrastructure; accessible and affordable finance; more capable and active small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and human capital in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills."

G20 Monitor: G20 Outreach to Society in 2015