Friday 25 September 2009


The G20 Pittsburgh Summit 2009
Edited by John Kirton and Madeline KochPublished by Newsdesk Media Group and the G20 Research Group, 2009
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To download a low-resolution pdf, click here. (Be patient! It's 7.7 MB.)
The President’s Welcome Message for the Pittsburgh SummitBarack Obama, president, United States of America [English] [Français] [Deutsch] [Russian] [Portuguesa] [Chinese] [Korean] [Japanese]
London’s legacyGordon Brown, prime minister, United Kingdom [English] [French] [Chinese]

Pittsburgh: bridging the Washington-London G20 summits and beyondLee Myung-bak, president, Republic of Korea [English] [Korean] [Chinese]

Brazil’s approach to shared growth and global governanceLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president, Brazil [English] [Chinese]

From Pittsburgh to Muskoka: building a sustainable global recovery Stephen Harper, prime minister, Canada [English] [Français] [Russian] [Chinese] [Korean]

Prospects for the Pittsburgh Summit John Kirton, director, G20 Research Group, and Jenilee Guebert, research coordinator, G20 Research Group [English] [Français] [Chinese]
The world economy: road to recovery Jim O’Neill, Goldman Sachs [English]
Welcome to PittsburghDan Onorato, Allegheny County Executive, and Luke Ravenstahl, mayor, City of Pittsburgh
[English]

The pathway to economic recovery
A strategy for global economic growth Angel Gurría, secretary general, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
[English]

America’s contribution to global economic growth Robert Fauver, former US under secretary of state for economic affairs and former G7 sherpa [English]

China: a revisionist rather than a revolutionist Tu Xinquan, associate director, China Institute for World Trade Organization Studies, University of International Business and Economics [English] [Chinese]

Reforming financial regulation & supervision
Regulating the banks: next stepsPaolo Savona, professor emeritus, geopolitical economy, and economic adviser, Associazione Guido Carli
Pay, risk and stewardship for future capital markets Stephen Davis, Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance, Yale University
Rating credit responsibly Anthony Hilton, financial editor, London Evening Standard
Dealing with derivatives Chiara Oldani, professor of economics, University of Viterbo ‘La Tuscia’; director of research, Assonebb
The challenges and contributions of offshore jurisdictions Denisse Rudich, Serum International
Islamic finance: an alternative financial model Ahmad Mohamed Ali, president, Islamic Development Bank
[English]
Government perspective
Adopting the G20 agenda in the EU Mats Odell, Sweden’s minister for local government and financial markets
Reconstructing global financial institutions
The Financial Stability Board: international cooperation to promote financial stability Mario Draghi, chair, Financial Stability Board
[English]
A new International Monetary Fund? Domenico Lombardi, president, Oxford Institute for Economic Policy, and non-resident senior fellow, Brookings Institution
[English]
Bretton Woods 1944 versus Pittsburgh 2009 Naoki Tanaka, president, Centre for International Public Policy Studies
[English] [Japanese]
Restoring trade, investment, infrastructure
The International Finance Corporation’s role in trade finance and development Lars H. Thunell, executive vice president and CEO, International Finance Corporation
[English]
The trouble with trade: the Pittsburgh G20 leaders’ review Alan S. Alexandroff, Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation, University of Toronto and The Centre for International Governance Innovation, and Andrew F. Cooper, The Centre for International Governance Innovation
[English]
India’s role in getting Doha done Yoginder K. Alagh, chancellor, Central University of Nagaland, and former minister, power, planning and science and technology, India
Green investment for climate & energy security
The Copenhagen conference’s climate change challenge Lars Lokke Rasmussen, prime minister, Denmark
[English] [Chinese]

The sustainable energy contribution Nobuo Tanaka, executive director, International Energy Agency [English]


How Pittsburgh can help Copenhagen on climate change Frank Loy, former US under secretary of state for global affairs and former chief climate negotiator

From conventional to creative energy supply strategies Victoria V. Panova, Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Deploying carbon capture and storage Nick Otter, CEO, Global CCS Institute
Financing renewable energy technologies and production Raili Kajaste, Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, and Risto Penttilä, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA
Reinforcing development, food security & health
The G20, or the G200? A Commonwealth view on global development challengesKamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth secretary general [English]
Achieving interdependence Haruhiko Kuroda, president, Asian Development Bank [English] [Russian] [Korean] [Japanese] [Chinese](Translations provided by the Asian Development Bank)
Growing to meet future challenges Luis Alberto Moreno, president, Inter-American Development Bank [English]
Long-term commitment vital for Africa’s growth Donald Kaberuka, president, African Development Bank [English]
Securing food and agriculture worldwide Donald G.M. Coxe, chair, Coxe Advisors LLC [English]

Food security and the biofuels challenge C. Ford Runge, Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Applied Economics and Law, University of Minnesota
America’s global health support for development Gloria Steele, head, Global Health, USAID
Health security from economic and environmental innovation Jeffrey L. Sturchio, president and CEO, Global Health Council
Actors & stakeholders

This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Libraryand the G20 Research Group and G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto


President Museveni address the UN general assembly yesterday
UNITED NATIONS

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni said yesterday Uganda would achieve economic growth exceeding 7% in 2009/10, higher than previously forecast. In a speech to the UN General Assembly, he focused on economic development. Museveni said the economy had grown at a rate of 6.5 percent for the past 23 years and achieved 7% growth last year despite the global recession. “In this financial year (2009/2010), our rate of growth will be in excess of seven percent,” Museveni said. Uganda has experienced steady growth over the past two decades. The finance ministry had previously forecast a 6% growth rate in 2009/10. Uganda has been praised for its stability since Museveni came to power in 1986, ending the nation’s darkest days under Idi Amin and Milton Obote. However, a fortnight ago, riots rocked Kampala after the Police refused to allow Buganda prime minister to travel to Kayunga district to prepare for the visit of the Kabaka. Critics, including some Western donors, also accuse Museveni of turning a blind eye to high level corruption. However, the President has repeatedly said his government is putting more effort to fighting corruption. He also warned the Government would deal with anyone trying to undermine peace and stability. Addressing the UN, Museveni said growth had been held back by lack of infrastructure, particularly electricity, roads and railways. However, Uganda now had the capital to fund such projects itself, while still welcoming foreign investment. “We can no longer ... be held at ransom by foreign funding for these vital foundational infrastructure elements,” he said. “The haemorrhaging of exporting raw materials, for which we get 10 per cent of the final processed product, has been recognised by many of us as modern slavery.” He said consumer spending was rising in Africa as economies enjoy growth. “We are entering into the phase of growth and transformation. Therefore, we believe, our economy will soon take off,” he said. Earlier, President Barack Obama promised a new era of US engagement with the world, and asked for global help in reigning in Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programmes as well as in the US war in Afghanistan. “Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world’s problems alone,” Obama said in his first speech to the assembly since taking office in January. Obama urged international leaders to join him, saying it was time for many to move beyond “an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for collective inaction.” Pledging to seek a nuclear weapon free world, Obama said he would find a new deal with Russia on reducing nuclear weapons. Countries that refuse to meet their obligations must face consequences, he said. The US leader also pledged to work with allies to strengthen financial regulation to “put an end to the greed, excess and abuse that led us into disaster.” On the Middle East, Obama said the time had come to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace talks without preconditions. “We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel and we continue to emphasise that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.” He also said the US would not allow al Qaeda to launch attacks from safe havens in Afghanistan or any nation. Regarding climate change, Obama vowed to promote renewable energy and share green technology with countries around the world. “We will press ahead with deep cuts in emissions to reach the goals that we set for 2020, and eventually 2050.” Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi followed Obama at the podium, making his own UN debut amid raw US emotions over the Lockerbie bombing after Scotland’s release of a Libyan official convicted in the 1988 attack. But Gadaffi’s rambling one-and-a-half-hour speech, which touched on everything from the UN Charter to the 1963 assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy, ended up driving some delegates from the room in boredom. Gadaffi accused the veto-wielding powers of the Security Council of betraying the principles of the UN charter. “The preamble (of the charter) says all nations are equal whether they are small or big,” Gadaffi said through an interpreter. “The veto is against the charter, we do not accept it and we do not acknowledge it.” Clad in a copper-coloured robe with an emblem of Africa pinned over his chest, the Libyan leader dropped his paperback copy of the UN Charter on the podium several times and at one point was about to tear it. The United States, Britain, France, Russia and China are permanent veto-wielding members of the Security Council. Libya has a temporary council seat and will be on the 15-nation panel until the end of 2010. “Veto power should be annulled,” Gadaffi said. “The Security Council did not provide us with security but with terror and sanctions,” he told the leaders. Gadaffi, who currently chairs the African Union, said the fact that “65 wars” have broken out since the UN was established more than 60 years ago proved its founding principles had been betrayed













Pre-G20 Summit Statement by European Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso


The crisis that we face is not just an economic crisis. It is a crisis for the values of our societies.

At the G20 in Pittsburgh this week, world leaders must respond by demonstrating our commitment to a greener, more ethical, more equitable and better balanced world economy.

This "new globalization" requires global governance, based on universal human values and reflecting the reality of economic interdependence.

The G20 gives us the chance to shape globalization. The chance to develop a sustainable model to replace the one brought to its knees by the failure of financial markets.

I believe Europe has a lot to offer as we develop this new global architecture. We have been for 60 years a laboratory for cross-border supranational cooperation. The European model of society strives to surpass the destructive dichotomy of unregulated markets or over-powerful states.

In Europe , before each G20 meeting, European Union (EU) leaders have publicly adopted a clear and united position. We have sought to build partnership, further cementing the ever-closer transatlantic relationship and our rapidly developing links with emerging nations.

We cannot and should not seek to stop globalization. It has created enormous wealth and pulled much of the world out of poverty. Business dealings and cultural exchange have replaced isolationism and mistrust.

Previous economic crises have led to rampant protectionism. And at worst, to conflicts that have killed tens of millions. This time, in the globalized age, we are working together around the table, rather than facing each other on the battlefield.

There are signs that, with the right policy decisions, we can achieve gradual recovery in 2010. But the noble rhetoric of change must not revert to "business as usual" once immediate economic pressure relents.

If recovery is to last, the G20 must step up a gear in reforming financial markets, with zero tolerance for any return to the "bad old ways".

Europeans are horrified by banks, some reliant on taxpayers' money, once again paying exorbitant bonuses. In Pittsburgh , the EU will call for coordinated action to stop this, building on measures already taken in Europe and elsewhere.

This is not a witch-hunt against bankers. More effective regulation is in the interests of any responsible financial sector and prudent financial institutions must not be at the mercy of their competitors' recklessness.

On the eve of the G20, the European Commission is pushing forward a blueprint for a European system of cross-border financial supervision. We believe that it can serve as inspiration for a global system based on similar principles.

Meanwhile we must keep our resolve. We must carry through the economic stimulus that has ensured recession has not turned to depression. Our number one priority must be saving and creating sustainable jobs.

But the G20 must also commit to coordinated exit strategies when the time comes, to get government finances back to health.

G20 members must also take responsibility for rebalancing global growth and demand to help prevent future crises.

There should be a strong role for the IMF. We have now delivered the London promise of $ 500 billion of new resources at the IMF's disposal. The EU will be providing over a third of this. The Pittsburgh meeting must put more flesh on the IMF's reinforced surveillance role.

The G20 must also make progress on reforming IMF quotas and representation. All the world's largest economies should have a voice commensurate to their size. They must also shoulder the responsibilities that go with that.

Europe will be pushing hard for significant progress in the fight against climate change. If we do not win that fight, economic progress will ultimately count for nothing.

We are less than 80 days away from the Copenhagen climate change conference in December and it is time to get serious. I am worried about the lack of ambition in the negotiations.

To make progress, we need to talk figures.

We have already put on the table our ideas on climate finance. Others must contribute proportionately. This is not the time to have our cards close to our chests.

Europe's message to the developing world is that if you are serious about the challenge of cutting emissions, we will be there to help. Not with a blank check, but with a fair proposal.

Our message to the developed world is that we need to make a credible financial commitment to the developing world together with our mitigation commitments. The equation is straightforward: no money, no deal. But no actions, no money!

We need to put in place a proper global carbon market, not as an optional extra, but as a pre-requisite for turning commitments into cuts in emissions.

The text that is currently on the table contains two hundred pages with a feast of alternatives and a forest of square brackets. Let’s be clear: if we do not sort this out, it risks becoming the longest suicide note in history.

The message I will bring to my fellow members of the G20 in Pittsburgh is clear. We must inspire the world with our vision of a future where open markets and the freedom to create wealth are framed within clear ethical and environmental principles, backed by strongly enforced global rules.


***


European Union - Delegation of the European Commission to the United States
2300 M Street, NW, Washington , DC 20037
www.eurunion.org
























Guests at the London Olypic park Open day




Its a rainy day today in London and it shined therafter







G-20 Backslide? GTA 2nd report reveals 100+ blatantly discriminatory measures

In the run up to the G-20 Summitt in Pittsburgh, the Global Trade Alert releases it second report on global protectionism. As the Wall Street Journal reports, “ At the G-20 summit in London in April, leaders pledged to ‘refrain from raising new barriers to investment to trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions....We extend this pledge to the end of 2010.’ But G-20 members have passed more than 100 'blatantly discriminatory measures,' according to the GTA report.” In a podcast, GMF Fellow Jennifer Hillman interviews Simon Evenett of the CEPR on the latest GTA findings in advance of the summit. To listen to the podcast, CLICK HERE. The report is available here.

For a related paper by GMF Transatlantic Fellow Kati Suominen on "The New Age of Protectionism" click here.

Additional Background

The Global Trade Alert is a tool to empower policy makers and stakeholders with information about state actions that discriminate against foreign commerce so that peer pressure and accountability for G-20 promises is more likely to occur.

Comprehensive scope. Global Trade Alert complements and goes beyond the WTO and World Bank's monitoring initiatives by identifying those trading partners likely to be harmed by state measures.

Verified , easy-to-access information. Anyone can report news articles and other evidence of enacted or pending protectionist policies, all of which is scrutinized by CEPR and partner institutions.

Independent. GTA is a global independent initiative drawing upon economic expertise from research institutes in seven regions of the world economy and stands apart from any government or international organization.

Openness. With its easy-to-use website GTA will allow policymakers, government officials, exporters, the media, and analysts to report discriminatory measures, but also will provide data for all stakeholders on the posted government measures by implementing country, by trading partners harmed, and by sector.

For further information on this tool, visit our website here.