G20 Summit starts with focus on global economic challenges

The two-day G20 Leaders’ Summit begins Sunday with the central focus on global growth and expectations the leaders will respond further to issues relating to terrorism and refugee crisis.

With the current financial market tensions and slowdown in emerging market economies, the Summit is expected to focus on global economic challenges and update on its growth strategies.

The event started with the welcoming ceremony of world leaders at noon, among them, US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was also received by the Summit’s host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Regnum Carya Hotel, which is the Summit venue.

Najib, who was on a three-day working visit to Turkey since Nov 13, attends the Summit in his capacity as the Chair of ASEAN.

It is understood all G20 leaders attend the Summit with the exception of French President Francois Hollande following the recent Paris incident and Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner due to the country's election.

Azerbaijan, Spain, Malaysia, Senegal, Singapore and Zimbabwe have been invited to participate in the Antalya Summit together with the G20 members.

Approximately 13,000 guests, of which 2,469 are media members, participated in the two-day Summit.

The G20 is the premier forum for global economic and financial cooperation that brings together the world’s major advanced and emerging economies, representing around 85 percent of global gross domestic product.

It groups individual countries – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, US and the European Union.

The G20 aims to conclude the Summit with practical outcomes on priority areas such as development, climate change, trade, growth and environment.

Following the welcoming ceremony, leaders will then proceed for a working lunch session on development and climate change, followed by the next working session on inclusive growth that would will delve on global economy, growth strategies, employment and investment strategies.

A working dinner session on global challenges pertaining to terrorism and refugee crisis will then be held after an earlier reception and cultural performance hosted by Turkish Prime Minister Dr Ahmet Davutoglu and wife.

The Antalya Summit was preceded by the G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia in 2014 which saw leaders adopting the Brisbane Action Plan, intending to raise potential world growth by two percent over five years.

This was expected to add US$2 trillion to world output with some 1,100 measures put forth by G20 member governments.