Alexander Yakovenko

On December 1, 2012, Russia assumed the presidency of the G20. One may wonder why the public, year after year, pays ever more attention to the Group’s activity. The answer is obvious.

We know that economic globalization has made our world so interdependent, that negative tendencies and misbalances greatly affect all members of the international community. The latest example is the ongoing eurozone debt crisis, which has been influencing market expectations and investor mood for quite some time. As a group of 20 leading economies covering 90 percent of global GDP and 80 percent of trade, the G20 has a moral social commitment to be an efficient, flexible and powerful instrument to foster economic growth and sustainability, manage and respond to crises. The Forum is an influential generator of new ideas, and nearly universal problem-solving and coordinating mechanism.

As for the objectives of its 2013 G20 Presidency, Russia has concentrated on the traditional track, supporting sustainable and balanced growth and job creation world over, to ensure continuity in the dialog on the existing commitments. In addition to the three “classic” priorities of boosting growth through quality jobs and investment, increasing trust and transparency in the markets, and ensuring regulation is both effective and efficient, Russia is introducing new topics: financing for investment, as well as government borrowing and public debt sustainability. For the first time, in an innovative move, we will organize a joint meeting of Finance and Labor Ministers.

Previous commitments on the G20 agenda include the state of the global economy, implementing the Framework Agreement for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth, boosting job creation, reforms to currency and financial regulation, oversight systems and the IMF formula and quotas, as well as maintaining stability in global energy markets, stepping up international development, strengthening multilateral trade and countering corruption.

Unfortunately, we have to admit that some G20 commitments do not coincide with the real policies enacted by some of the Forum’s participants, which damages its reputation and undermines its effectiveness. We intend to join efforts with our partners in order to encourage leading economies to fulfill their commitments, particularly in terms of implementing promises on budget deficits and debt coefficients, as agreed at previous summits.

We sincerely hope that Russia’s G20 Presidency will help consolidate international efforts for the benefit of people worldwide. In this respect we strongly count on the contributions of all our partners, including the UK, within the context of its G8 Presidency.