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Economy 06 Sep 2016

The parallel G20: the vision of businesses

Just as in previous years, the G20 summit – held in China this year – has drawn worldwide attention. But the leaders of the 20 major economies were not the only ones to meet in Hangzhou. In parallel, business leaders from these same economies presented their proposals in the Business 20 event.

Photo B20 2016

B20: what is it?

The B20 or Business 20  is a platform that gathers, from time to time, the most relevant companies of the countries that make up the G20. Their purpose is to express their vision and recommendations regarding major economic and financial challenges to G20 governments, in order to achieve a path of sustainable and balanced global economic growth. In recent years, the B20 has played a pivotal role in the building of bridges between global economic policies and business communities.

The B20 meetings started taking place concomitantly with the G20 in 2010. That year, the summit was held in Korea.  The subsequent meetings have been hosted in France, Mexico, Russia, Australia and Turkey, which organized it in 2015 and during which BBVA led the Financing Growth workgroup.  This year, it was China’s turn to preside over both summits, which took place in the city of Hangzhou. In 2017 it will be hosted by Germany.

According to Eva Piera, Global Director of Institutional Relations at BBVA, who attended the B20 representing the institution “the meetings of the business community that make up the B20, and especially the B20 summits as the one that has been taking place in Hangzhou, are very relevant as they incorporate the private sector in the analysis and development of proposals on the great challenges of economic and financial agenda worldwide. BBVA, as a significant player in the international financial community, actively participate in the meetings of B20 incorporating our view of the financial regulatory agenda and, in particular, on the digital agenda , raising awareness of the authorities of the dimension and regulatory challenges of profound transformation which it is happening in our industry.”

What does it propose?

The B20 2016 has drawn up a Policy Paper with 20 recommendations under the overarching theme: Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy. The document urges the G20 leaders to implement a series of structural reforms that will drive strong, sustainable and balanced growth in the global economy.

The paper recommends four lines of work:

  • Break a new path for global economic growth.For this purpose, it proposes encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation by developing infrastructures, facilitating sustainable investments and financing to markets, and stimulating financial inclusion by embracing digital technology innovation.
  • Improving economic and financial governance schemes.In this regard, the paper considers a series of essential measures, which include optimizing global financial regulations to facilitate the axes of small and medium sized businesses to financing, strengthening intergovernmental cooperation against corruption, and promoting a more transparent business to bolster competition.
  • Encourage robust international trade and investment by strengthening the multilateral trading system and eliminating protectionist measures.
  • Promote inclusive and interconnected development by favoring the participation of women and youths in the job market, reducing imbalances and enhancing interconnectivity between different sectors through innovative proposals.

How does BBVA participate in this forum?

As mentioned above, traditionally, BBVA has played a key role in the drawing up of the proposal. In the Turkey summit, the company led the Financing Growth workgroup, focusing on the role of the financial system as driver of economic growth. This block analyzes the regulatory agenda and tries to issues recommendations in regulatory matters for the financial system aimed at not only promoting the system’s stability, but also fostering economic growth, trade and investment.

Within this framework, BBVA has also been very active raising awareness about how important it is to foster digital technology development to drive growth. From this point of view, regulation also plays an essential role, both as a mechanism to protect consumers and as a way to promote the advantages that these technological advances bring.

This year, BBVA also actively engaged in another workgroup, SME Development, which seeks to promote the role of small and medium sized enterprises as drivers of growth and employment.