NEWSLETTER - Latin American New Zealand Business Council

G20 WORKING GROUP
CONCLUDES PREPARATORY MEETING FOR JUNE 18-19
LEADERS' SUMMIT IN LOS CABOS, MEXICO
COLOMBIA
The group will work to ensure that
their recommendations have an
impact on reducing poverty and
promoting sustainable growth in
less-developed countries.
The G20 Development Working
Group (DWG) met for the third
time under the Mexican
presidency in Los Cabos, Baja
California Sur, on May 3-5.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the G20 member
countries, the invited countries (Chile, Colombia, Spain, Sweden, Benin
and Cambodia) and international organizations such as the United Nations,
World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
During 12 working sessions, the DWG reviewed the work done over the
course of this year and drafted a report that will be presented by the
Sherpas to the G20 leaders at the Los Cabos Summit in June.
Regarding inclusive green growth, the group decided on a set of
instruments that will assist the developing countries, particularly the lowerincome
ones, to implement public policies that lead to sustainable
development. It also laid the foundation for a program that will provide
better access to private capital to finance "green" policies.
In food security, progress was made on important initiatives such as ways
to encourage private sector investment to benefit the most vulnerable
countries. It was also decided to consider implementing public policies to
improve the productivity of small farmers in developing countries.
On the issue of infrastructure, a Mexican initiative on a set of best practices
in developing sustainable urban mass transport was approved.
El Pibe Valderrama
Ceciliai Baena
CUBA
Javier Sotomayor Sanabria
In other areas, the group agreed on platforms for sharing knowledge on
tropical agriculture, social protection programs and job skills. These
platforms will enable countries like Mexico to share, easily and in a timely
fashion, their experiences and successful programs with less-developed
countries worldwide.
The group held two substantive dialogues with the private sector and civil
society representatives, focusing on issues of mutual interest in
development. In the first meeting, Mexican businessman Alejandro
Ramirez, president of the Business20 (B20) Organizing Committee,
presented the recommendations of the B20 on green growth and food
security, which led to an exchange of ideas on the contributions of the
global business sector to the development agenda. At the second meeting,
representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundations, Mary
Robinson and ONE Campaign shared their contributions to the work of the
G20.
Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano
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