T20 Summit Argentina 2018

Event Type
Workshop

Location / Date
Buenos Aires, 16.09.2018 until 18.09.2018

German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

PANELS OF THE T20 AFRICA STANDING GROUP (TASK FORCE “COOPERATION WITH AFRICA”)

Competition among G20 countries to pursue new cooperation initiatives with Africa is high. In this regard, G20 countries generally follow two parallel tracks: they have their own bilateral initiatives and only in some cases use the G20 to launch new/different policy initiatives. These bilateral and G20 initiatives are not always complementary and they are not always sustained and followed up in the medium- to long-term. For instance, during the 2017 German G20 Presidency, Germany proposed a G20 Compact with Africa while the EU in parallel launched an EU External Investment Plan during the AU-EU summit in November 2017. Both aim at strengthening the investment environment in African countries and creating incentives for (foreign) investments in infrastructure and other areas. Both remain largely disconnected from other international partners’ investments in infrastructure and other areas. In 2016, the Chinese G20 Presidency launched a new G20 initiative on industrialization for Least Devel-oped Countries, while the Belt and Road Initiative – with substantial financial resources linked to it – has remained a bilateral endeavor with multiple and varied implications from region to region. Whether and how the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor promoted by India and Japan will feature during the Japanese G20 presidency remains unclear so far.

The panel discussed the following questions:

• How can G20 countries strengthen the coherence between their bilateral and G20 ini-tiatives? Which factors prevent/enable better coordination?
• In what specific areas would such coordination in the G20 enable these initiatives to advance sustainable development and structural transformation? 
• How can African actors make best use of the various international initiatives? How can these initiatives be aligned with Africa’s Agenda 2063? What are comparative ad-vantages of different initiatives?

Speakers

• Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary UNECA
• Representative Japanese T20 process
• Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General of Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), India
• Philani Mthembu, Executive Director of the Institute of Global Dialogue, South Africa (tbc)

Tuesday 18 September, 11:55 am - 12:45 pm

• The CWA monitoring framework will be strengthened if AAG reporting includes the activities of respective development finance institutions, other Ministries beyond De-velopment Cooperation and Finance, and chambers of commerce or other industry groups.
• To improve the CWA monitoring framework, where possible it will be helpful if AAG members articulate investment objectives in the self-assessments, either for specific countries, sectors or time periods. If investment goals are indicated, it will give the CWA more credibility and provide an improved baseline for the monitoring.
• Coordination among international organizations could be leveraged for implementation of assistance work programs of the three IOs.  In reporting, a greater emphasis on tri-lateral coordination will increase understanding of joint support.  
• The monitoring framework would be strengthened if IOs provide some indication of “additionality” of technical assistance being provided to CWA countries.  This will en-sure strong buy-in among CWA countries.  
• CWA countries may wish to identify challenges to implementation related to actions in the policy matrices.  This will better identify where particular additional support is needed and can provide areas for learning from peer CWA countries.  
• CWA countries would benefit from expanded and real-time experience sharing through case studies, peer-to-peer learning, and policy platforms.  
• The monitoring framework would be strengthened by a periodic (possibly every other year) private sector perception survey that is specific to the CWA. This would provide additional balance and insight.   
• In-country validation utilizing a high level eminent persons panel.  

The panel identified 2-3 concrete actions that will have positive and rapid impact on CwA implementation, and that will position the CwA for continued progress under G20 Japanese Presidency.  The summary of this panel discussion was provided to the Africa Advisory Group meeting scheduled for October 10, 2018.
 
Proposed Panelists:

• Susanne Fries-Gaier, Chancellery, Germany (tbc)
• Japanese T20 partner organization / official TBD
• Kojo Asante, Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement, Center for Democratic Development
• Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, Chief Executive, South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)

Moderation

• Rob Floyd, ACET

Hinweis

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