B20 Turkey takes centre stage with inclusive global agenda

Having taken over the Presidency of the G20 from Australia in late 2014, Turkey has vowed to be guided all the way by the principles of ‘Inclusiveness, Implementation and Investment for growth’. In line with this commitment to inclusivity, it has given extra prominence to feed-in groups comprised of business leaders (B20), civil society (C20), trade unions (L20) and think tanks (T20).

B20 Turkey has put forward a progressive agenda for the year that will be facilitated by specially formed task forces on Financing Growth, Trade, Infrastructure and Investments, Employment, Anti-Corruption and, for the first time ever, SMEs and Entrepreneurship.

Upon assuming the leadership mantle from B20 Australia in December 2014, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that for the last 6 years, “Things that we used to hold true became false, and things we used to think false became true.” He added that, “We have to find global solutions to our global problems, and for this reason continuity, inclusivity, and connectivity will be the main pillars of the Turkish B20 leadership role.”

Throughout Hisarcıklıoğlu’s Presidency, over 5,000 business community representatives will visit Turkey and discuss the future of the global economy. The global B20 Coalition brings together leading independent business associations from G20 economies and advocates on behalf of more than 6.7 million small, medium and large companies.  It operates as a worldwide platform of exchanges between national business communities, aimed at building consensus and developing common positions on critical issues for enterprises.

The first official business summit took place in the Korean G20 Presidency in 2010, and was convened during subsequent French, Mexican, Russian, and Australian G20 presidencies. Since the first business summit, the business community has presented more than 400 recommendations to G20 leaders.