Sydney: Business leaders from the G20 major economies called Wednesday for free flows of trade, capital and jobs to boost growth, but avoided addressing the controversial global issues of profit-shifting and climate change.
More than 380 international business chiefs are set to attend the B20 summit in Sydney on Thursday and Friday before presenting their growth strategies to the G20 presidency, which is chaired by Australia this year.
“When you see all the B20 recommendations later in the week, there’s a couple of common themes. One is the free flow of trade, one is the free flow of capital and one is the free flow of employment,” said Steve Sargent, chair of the B20’s human capital taskforce.
The strategies are meant to help the G20 meet its pledge made during a meeting of finance ministers in February to pursue additional economic growth of 2.0 per cent over the next five years.
“I am very confident that the recommendations that we’ve got - if implemented by G20 countries - will lead to economic growth,” said B20 Australia chair Richard Goyder.
Goyder said the heads of some of the world’s biggest companies would focus on fewer recommendations than in past years to increase the chances they would be adopted.
Goyder, the chief executive of Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers, said 128 recommendations were presented by the B20 in St Petersburg last year, “which arguably is too many to prioritise”.
“We’ll have a lot less, and the handful of recommendations that we’ve got are capable of being actioned and capable of delivering what we’re seeking - which is stronger economic activity.”
The B20 summit comes ahead of a G20 trade ministers’ meeting on Saturday, also in Sydney, and further gatherings later this year including the G20 summit in Brisbane in November.
The recommendations cover four themes: structural flexibility, free movement across borders, consistent and effective regulation and integrity and credibility in commerce.
The focus on fewer topics meant other global concerns such as profit-shifting and tax evasion by multinational firms, which was raised during the February meeting, would not be dealt with during the current sessions.
Goyder defended their exclusion, saying that although businesses were aware of the concerns - and in some cases such as climate change were implementing their own strategies - they would be better addressed by G20 policy-makers and by individual countries and firms.
BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie, the B20 trade taskforce chair, said 1,500 non-tariff restrictions had been introduced since the global financial crisis. He called on G20 members that have implemented such measures to “wind them back as a matter of real urgency”.
“The recommendations being presented to the G20 trade session later this week for review we think in aggregate could... generate up to nearly $3.5 trillion in GDP growth and add more than 50 million jobs just to the G20 countries alone,” Mackenzie said.
“That is something that will really start to address the scourge of youth unemployment... it’s akin to adding another Germany to the global economy.”
Business leaders attending the summit include Royal Dutch Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden, News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and Rio Tinto boss Sam Walsh.
