G20 china_web
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Sustainable development<br />
<strong>G20</strong> groups could share information<br />
with low-income developing countries<br />
New payment methods have<br />
significantly reduced remittance costs<br />
TREVOR SNAPP/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES<br />
An employee uses phone<br />
banking in Nairobi, Kenya<br />
The Development<br />
Working Group and<br />
others can share<br />
such policy tools<br />
wherever possible<br />
implementing the 2030 Agenda.<br />
How can coordination and policy<br />
coherence be enhanced? What can the<br />
Development Working Group do to increase<br />
the development mandate of the other<br />
working groups?<br />
Optimising the membership of<br />
other <strong>G20</strong> working groups<br />
Previously, other <strong>G20</strong> work streams only<br />
paid attention to coordinating policy among<br />
<strong>G20</strong> members. If the Development Working<br />
Group wants to improve the development<br />
mandate of other <strong>G20</strong> work streams, it could<br />
suggest they change their membership.<br />
For example, the Anti-Corruption Working<br />
Group has two sub-groups: the Core<br />
Group, which consists of members of four<br />
taskforces from the Business 20 (B20), and<br />
the Expert Group, which consists of other<br />
experts. All of them come from developed<br />
countries and have strong business<br />
backgrounds. If the Development Working<br />
Group advises the Anti-Corruption<br />
Working Group to pay more attention to<br />
anti-corruption within non-<strong>G20</strong> countries,<br />
there should be more participation by<br />
experts from developing countries.<br />
Sharing information<br />
Information sharing involves sharing<br />
work plans and regular reporting between<br />
the Development Working Group and<br />
the other work streams, as well as close<br />
contact among the working group chairs,<br />
promoting two-way communication.<br />
Moreover, the Development Working<br />
Group could strengthen information<br />
sharing between <strong>G20</strong> members and lowincome<br />
developing countries. Given that<br />
financial inclusion has been incorporated<br />
into the 2030 Agenda, coordination<br />
and policy coherence between the<br />
Development Working Group and the<br />
Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion<br />
(GPFI) would be important for achieving<br />
the SDGs.<br />
The prevalence of the internet<br />
in developed economies has led to<br />
innovations in payment methods, which<br />
have significantly reduced remittance<br />
costs. The same phenomenon has<br />
occurred in some low-income countries,<br />
such as in Kenya, where M-PESA has<br />
effectively facilitated mobile phone-based<br />
money transfer, financing and microfinancing<br />
services. The Development<br />
Working Group should work with the GPFI<br />
to launch an initiative to enable <strong>G20</strong> and<br />
non-<strong>G20</strong> countries to share information<br />
and knowledge of successful remittance and<br />
payment cases.<br />
Setting agendas with<br />
development implications<br />
The Development Working Group<br />
can recommend improvements to the<br />
development mandate of other <strong>G20</strong> groups.<br />
For example, the <strong>G20</strong> finance deputies<br />
oversee the <strong>G20</strong>’s tax agenda, usually<br />
focusing on the Base Erosion and Profit<br />
Shifting (BEPS) initiative, international tax<br />
avoidance and the automatic exchange of<br />
tax information, and tax transparency. The<br />
Development Working Group can advise<br />
the finance deputies on supporting effective<br />
domestic resource mobilisation to ensure<br />
that developing economies can fully and<br />
effectively participate in and benefit from<br />
the <strong>G20</strong> international tax agenda.<br />
Facilitating policy tools<br />
Policy tools and frameworks developed in<br />
one working group can be adapted to guide<br />
relevant work in other work streams. Many<br />
international organisations are involved in<br />
the governance of the Development Working<br />
Group and other work streams, providing<br />
technical advice and policy tools.<br />
So, the Development Working Group and<br />
other work streams can share such policy<br />
tools wherever possible. This applies to<br />
both <strong>G20</strong> countries and non-<strong>G20</strong> countries.<br />
For example, with respect to human<br />
resource development, the Organisation for<br />
Economic Co-operation and Development<br />
maintains the World Indicators of Skills<br />
for Employment (WISE) database, and the<br />
International Labour Organization has<br />
developed the Technical and Vocational<br />
Education and Training (TVET) system.<br />
<strong>G20</strong> and non-<strong>G20</strong> countries can use<br />
these tools. Therefore, the Development<br />
Working Group could improve its synergies<br />
with the Employment Working Group on<br />
facilitating policy tools. <strong>G20</strong><br />
G7<strong>G20</strong>.com September 2016 • <strong>G20</strong> China: The Hangzhou Summit 165
Change language