Turkey stresses peace, security at G20 meet in China

SHANGHAI – Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s economy minister has praised the value of world peace and security for the global economy during a Group of 20 (G-20) meeting hosted by China.        

“It is not possible for us to achieve economic or trade growth or increased investment without a fundamental component,” Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said, stressing “the importance of world peace and security in this sense.”

In his speech, themed Strengthening the G-20 Trade and Investment Mechanism, he drew attention to how instability in the global economy continued, and how this negative trend affected international trade growth and the increase of foreign direct investment (FDI).

He underlined that during Turkey’s G-20 presidency last year, which was assumed by China in December, a comprehensive agenda including both trade and investment issues had been adopted.

“Turkey, leaving behind many developed and developing countries, attained growth of 4 percent in 2015 and 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2016,” he said at the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in Shanghai.    
    
 “However, on a global level, we could not reach the same encouraging reflection,” he noted.    
   
Zeybekci also said that if balanced, strong and sustainable growth was to be pursued, investments would have to be increased and new employment opportunities created.        

“We must facilitate trade through both bilateral and multilateral initiatives,” he said. “Especially for our small- and medium-sized enterprises, we must ensure access to trade financing mechanisms.”  
     
The ministerial-level meeting, which kicked off on July 9, was hosted by China’s largest city in advance of the G-20 Summit set to be held in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Sept. 4 and 5.       

The world’s top 20 economies will work to boost sluggish global trade despite growing protectionism, overcapacity concerns, and uncertainty over Brexit, G-20 trade ministers said on July 10.

“The global recovery continues, but it remains uneven and falls short of our ambition for strong, sustainable and balanced growth. Downside risks and vulnerabilities persist,” the trade ministers said in a joint statement, adding that trade should remain “an important engine” to spur global growth.

The G-20 nations, which account for 85 percent of global trade, admitted that protectionism has been rising since the financial crisis, and said that new trade restrictions in the group had reached the highest monthly average registered since the WTO began monitoring in 2009.

“We note with concern that despite the G20’s repeated pledge, the stock of restrictive measure affecting trade in goods and services has continued to rise,” they said in the statement.

Ahead of the meeting, WTO chief economist Robert Koopman warned that restrictive measures could affect industries including air freight cargo, sea based cargo, automobile sales and production, electronics trade, and agricultural raw materials.

The world’s leading economies at the weekend pledged to oppose trade protectionism and reiterated a promise not to add new protective measures until 2018.

Global trade is expected to grow at a tepid 2.8 percent in 2016, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said in April.