G20 Summit Closes in Australia, Committed to Boosting the Global Economy

The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, a group of major economies in the world, concluded after two days of meetings in Cairns, Australia on September 21.

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey speaks at the conference. Photo: AFP

Speaking at a press conference after the conference, Australian Finance Minister Joe Hockey, Chairman of the G20 Conference, said that this G20 Conference was a success. During the two-day meeting, delegates focused on discussing all 900 measures proposed by member countries at the Conference related to economic growth targets, initiatives on world infrastructure, reform in the financial sector as well as the issue of enhancing integration in the tax sector of the bloc.

The Australian Finance Minister also said that the G20 member countries issued a joint statement emphasizing that the world economy is currently facing a continuous weakening of commodity demand while the supply of goods is shrinking, leading to a decline in world economic growth.

As part of the global economy, the G20 economies are also facing the above difficulties. Therefore, to avoid risks and preserve the G20 economies, as well as create more jobs for people in the bloc, the G20 needs to promote financial sectors with stable and sustainable growth.

This requires strong determination from the members of the bloc. One of the current priorities of the G20 is to increase the gross domestic product of all G20 member countries by 1.8% by 2018, thereby contributing 2,000 billion USD to the world economy. In particular, it emphasizes solutions to promote growth, increase both the quality and quantity of investment, thereby creating more jobs for workers as well as enhancing trade and promoting fair competition.

"While the global economy is recovering, global growth is not uniform. We can clearly see the risks to the global economic outlook. However, I am optimistic about what we can do if we work together. It is important that we deploy strong measures to boost growth and create jobs for workers. We will have to use all levers, including fiscal and monetary levers, as appropriate," said Finance Minister Hockey.

Sharing the same view with the Australian Minister of Finance, Canadian Minister of Finance Joe Oliver also highly appreciated the ability to implement the solutions proposed by G20 member countries at this Conference.

“I am confident that if the G20 implements all these measures, we can move towards our goal of increasing G20 gross domestic product growth to close to 2%,” Mr. Oliver said.

One of the issues that also received attention from G20 member countries at this meeting was the modernization of tax regulations around the world to deal with tax avoidance and evasion in border areas.

Accordingly, G20 member countries agreed to impose new tax regulations targeting multinational companies that are using legal loopholes to evade taxes.

In the coming time, G20 will conduct information exchange activities between member countries through the use of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) to clearly identify tax evaders and take action.

Speaking to the press, Australian Finance Minister Hockey said that Australia will be the pioneer in implementing this common information standards regulation.

“On the Australian side, we will start implementing the common information standards. We are determined to tax the profits of individuals and companies earned in Australia. This will send a strong message to those who cheat on tax. We also call on all jurisdictions, especially financial centres, to work with us so that we can deliver on our commitments,” Mr Hockey said.

In addition, the G20 Summit also expressed concern about the current Ebola outbreak in the world as well as its impact on growth and stability of affected countries and regions. The G20 Summit emphasized the importance of a common response by the world community in dealing with the epidemic.

As planned, the G20 Summit is scheduled to take place on November 15-16 in Brisbane, Australia.

According to VOV