Although terrorism is likely to be a main talking point at the G20 summit in Turkey's southwestern seaside city of Antalya, and Francois Hollande has announced he will not attend, the planned discussions on the three main themes, "inclusiveness, investment and implementation", will still take place. [Special coverage]
Comprised of the 19 leading economies and the European Union, the G20 accounts for more than 85 percent of the global economy, therefore, the G20 leaders are obliged to step up their coordination, particularly the major powers, with regards to strengthening the global economy and making it more inclusive and sustainable, deepening the dialogue and cooperation between G20 countries and developing economies, increasing investment, and the implementation and follow-up on commitments.
Almost 50 percent of the world's impoverished people live in non-G20 countries, and all emerging markets have more or less fallen prey to a constant decline in their growth since 2010, even though they, especially the members of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), played a key role in saving the global economy from further deterioration during the major financial crisis that swept the world.
Apart from doubling financial aid, such as the climate change fund, to low income developing countries, the 2015 G20 Summit could encourage them to participate in other international dialogues. Inviting Azerbaijan and the New Partnership for Africa's Development to Antalya is a good start in this respect.
The G20 is still of special importance to global financial stability, as subtle changes in one country's macroeconomic policy will have "spoiler effects" on the rest of the world, an inevitable result of the globalization and increasingly close economic ties between countries.
The United States Federal Reserve's intention to quit quantitative easing, for one, has led to an exodus of capital from the emerging markets, causing a wave of turbulence in the global financial system. Three months ago the People's Bank of China unexpectedly pushed forward its interest rate marketization by announcing that the daily fixing would reference the previous day's market closing rate, as well as the daily foreign exchange demand and supply, which also had short-term effects on some of its neighbors.
As the world's second-largest economy and largest trading nation, China has given much attention to the economic signals it released prior to the summit, which came just two weeks after the Fifth Plenum of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee released the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).
The government will continue to adhere to opening-up and reform to achieve win-win cooperation with more countries. True, a number of foreign enterprises are transferring their business in China to some neighboring Southeast Asian nations, but this is just an ordinary commercial adjustment in response to the rising cost of labor in China.
But more specifically, the Chinese government is expected to seek full implementation of a "negative list" for foreign investment and preferential trade and financial policies, in the hope of creating a more transparent and fairer investment environment. This will not only attract more foreign enterprises to increase their investments in China, but also allow them to benefit from the country's foreseeable economic growth.
Global infrastructure is in need of over a trillion US dollars of investment, and this is likely to be another topic discussed by the G20 leaders. China can share its experiences in this area, as it has acquired expertise in infrastructure building over the last four decades. The Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the BRICs Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will provide abundant public goods to the world should China and the other G20 members manage to forge the cooperation that makes the best use of its capacity, the advanced technologies of the West and emerging markets.
The Summit will conclude with a presentation given by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will assume the G20 presidency next year.
The author, Hu Yuwei, is a research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.
