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B20 Trade & Investment Task Force outlines four policy recommendations for G20
The Business 20 and Group of 20 (B20-G20) Dialogue for the Trade and Investment Task Force was held in Labuan Bajo on Friday (Sept. 23).
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(Courtesy of B20)
The Business 20 and Group of 20 (B20-G20) Dialogue for the Trade and Investment Task Force was held in Labuan Bajo on Friday (Sept. 23). The location of the event was chosen to signal their support for the government’s initiative to make the city one of the top tourist spots in Indonesia.
The first speech was given by Shinta Kamdani, Chair of the B20, regarding the main objective of this discussion, which is to present policy proposals to be submitted to the government. Her introductory address was followed by Chair of the B20 Task Force Arif Rachmat, who outlined the four recommendations made by the task force to tackle financial challenges in the future.
The policy recommendations are firstly to promote open, fair, inclusive and efficient multilateral governance of global trade and investment, including through reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO). Secondly, to facilitate innovation, digitalization and technology adoption to support international development and future global crisis mitigation. To strengthen support for achieving inclusiveness in the global supply and value chains as the third and lastly, to make trade and investment a driving value that has an impact on greener and sustainable development in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto highlighted the optimistic look of the future for Indonesia, based on the enormous potential made by the country’s performance this year. He revealed that Indonesia’s investment grew by 25 percent year-on-year (YoY) and that there is a surplus in the country’s credit balance. He addressed the crowd virtually about the importance of strengthening the industry sector in addition to trade and investment. Lastly, he spoke of how the B20 plays a crucial role to increase investment to support projects that follow the SDGs.
The coordinating minister’s address was followed by another from the Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan as the fourth address of the event. Reiterating what was previously said by Arif, he noted that the G20 presidency of Indonesia encourages concrete solutions to overcome potential crises, specifically food, energy and inflation.
“Indonesia’s G20 presidency has pushed for alignment in trade and investment to construct and coordinate synchronize efforts for global economic recovery whilst putting emphasis on the importance of the industrial sector in the G20 discussions,” added Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in his speech. He revealed that the G20 is advancing operations on industry-related aspects in the effort of supporting and/or investing in developing countries around the world to promote inclusivity.
The panel session started with remarks from Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoud, the United Arab Emirates Foreign Trade Minister and Manlio Di Stefano, Undersecretary of the Italian State of Foreign Affairs Ministry respectively.
The event held two panels: to deep dive on the first two policy recommendations and to discuss the remaining two. With Sherly Susilo, Policy Coordinator of B20 Indonesia as moderator, the panel titled, “Post-pandemic global travel and investment governance in maximizing the innovation and digitalization for global economic recovery, growth and resilience,” was attended by Albert Park, Chief Economist of Asian Development Bank (ADB), Koji Hachiyama, COO of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Barbara Beltrame, former chair of B20 Italy and Eko S.A. Cahyanto, the Director General of the Industry Ministry.
The second panel, “An inclusive and resilient global value chains in the context of moving toward sustainable trade and investment” was attended by Marc Schmidt of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Juan José Daboub, former Managing Director of the World Bank, Jasmine Begum, Director of ASEAN Legal, Government & Corporate Affairs and New Markets and Ernst Coppens, Managing Director and CFO of Bayer in ASEAN.
After some perspective on the ocean economy as a driver for inclusive and sustainable economic growth by Deputy Coordinating Minister for Maritime Resources Jodi Mahardi at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Ministry, the event was concluded by remarks from Anurag Jain and Shreekant Somany for the outlook of the G20 in India next year. The concluding remarks were delivered by Dharma Djojonegoro as Deputy Chair of the task force.
