Global Economy and Significance of G20 was Discussed at TEPAV

ANKARA- TEPAV and Canada Embassy organized a meeting to discuss the significance of G20 at the eve of G20 Toronto Summit to be held on June 26-27 2010.

Opening speeches were delivered by Prof. Dr. Güven Sak, TEPAV Director, Serap Özcoşkun, Deputy Director General for Multilateral Political Affairs, and H.E. Mark E. Bailey, Ambassador Canada. Key note speaker of the meeting was Prof. Dr. john Kirton from Toronto University.

In his speech, TEPAV Director Prof. Dr. Güven Sak maintained that along with the global crisis, the inter-country relations entered a new phase and that the significance of coordination mechanisms such as G20 increased in terms of executing common policy responses at global level. Sak underlined that in this process, all countries must cooperate. Putting emphasis on controlled globalization, Sak indicated that potential crisis can be prevented this way.

Dr. Kirton, founder and co-director of G20 Research Group, delivered a presentation with the title: "Governing Economic Governance: Canada's G20 Summit from Toronto to Turkey." In his presentation, Kirton highlighted the importance of G20 group in global governance and international cooperation and maintained that Turkey and Canada make bigger contributions to G20 and global governance and through joint actions can improve the efficiency of the group.

Underlining that the top agenda item of the G20 Toronto Summit will be the global financial crisis and recent developments in European countries, Dr. Kirton stated that the Summit will seek solutions to problems in international trade, investment, and development stemming from the global financial crisis. Kirton said that environmental and social problems including climate change and food security will also be addressed at the G20 Toronto Summit. Kirton maintained that G20 has recently become the center of the global governance and added that the structure of the group shall be solidified further so that the group becomes more influential in the management of global problems. Kirton underlined that for this purpose, wider cooperation between countries is required. Kirton stated that Turkey will also host a G20 Summit in the coming years and that participation of Turkey in global management, as a country where democracy rules, can set a meaningful example for other Middle Eastern and Muslim countries.