This event is part of a series of meetings the ICC G20 Advisory Group has held since June 2011. Global consultations give local businesses the opportunity to be heard and to channel their priorities into the G20 process.
Agenda
Host Manfred Gentz, Chairman of ICC Germany and H.E. Vladimir M. Grinin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation welcomed participants to the consultation, where G20 priorities from a German viewpoint were addressed. Trade, investment and job creation were major policy topics for discussion, mirroring the work of three of the six Russian task forces.
A central part of the meeting was a discussion with Germany's G8- and G20 "Sherpa" Lars-Hendrik Röller. Dr Röller represents German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the preparations for the G20 Summit and is her economic and financial policy advisor.
Participants
The Berlin global consultation brought together 60 business representatives from Germany, Russia, Turkey and others, as well as Embassy representatives from Australia, Brazil, China, France, India, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States.
Key speakers included: Dr Lars-Henrik Röller, Director General, Economic and Financial Policy Division of the German Federal Chancellery Previous and German G8/G20 "Sherpa"; Manfred Gentz, former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Zurich Financial Services and Chairman, ICC Germany; H.E. Vladimir M. Grinin, Russian Ambassador to Germany; Karl-Ernst Brauner, Director General of External Economic Policy, Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology; and Jean-Guy Carrier, ICC Secretary General.
Outcomes
Results from the consultation will be fed into the business recommendations that are being produced in advance of the G20 Leaders Summit to be held in Saint Petersburg on 5-6 September 2013. The primary business input into the G20 process is being orchestrated by Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), who has been appointed by Russian Present Vladimir Putin to lead business policy task forces during the Russian G20 cycle.
Media coverage
Directly following the consultation, Mr Carrier, Mr Gentz and Mr Grinin participated in a media briefing.
Selected quotes
"The member companies of ICC are the everyday practitioners of the global economy and, consequently, have a clear stake in the success of the G20. Our objective today was to give these voices an opportunity to be heard and to be relevant to the global policy debates that ultimately impact their commercial opportunities, investments and trade."
Manfred Gentz, Chairman, ICC Germany
"We are pleased to be working with RSPP and the B20 coalition of national business federations this year to ensure that G20 deliberations reflect the voice of business. The results from this policy consultation will be conveyed to the respective B20 task force leaders in Moscow so as to ensure that business recommendations reflect the broad base of companies large and small."
Jean-Guy Carrier, ICC Secretary General