Y20 Russia Summit Agenda announced
18 May 2013
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русский
The Russian delegation at the Y20 Russia 2013 Summit, to be held from 18-21 June 2013 as part of the St.Petersburg Economic Forum, gave a news conference in Moscow.
Roman Chukov, Head of the Y20 Russia 2013 Secretariat, reminded that a broad ranged dialogue within Russia's G20 Presidency is being held, including meetings of civil society, entrepreneurs, labour unions, think tanks and youth.
The Y20 Summit will bring together 106 young, active and competent participants from the G20 countries (five delegates from each of the G20 members and one from each of the six invited countries). The Summit is organized by the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs with support from the Russian G20 Sherpa office, the St.Petersburg International Economic Forum Foundation and the Y8 regional youth movement assisting youth initiatives. The Summit will be held in partnership with the International Diplomatic Engagement Association (IDEA) made up of the largest youth organizations from all across the G20.
"The delegates have already met in the virtual space at the Y20 website," Roman Chukov added. "And their first joint effort was to shape the Summit's agenda."
Deputy Head of the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs and Y20 Russia 2013 Summit Organizing Committee deputy chairperson Yelena Bocherova noted that St.Petersburg will witness a dialogue between the leaders of two generations. "The voice of the young is vitally important," she said. "It is very important that a friendly union is forged between the youth leaders of different countries before complicated and controversial international policy draws them toward opposite poles. Our key objective is to lay the foundation for trust between them."
Head of the Russian delegation at the Y20 Russia 2013 Inal Ardzinba (Moscow), a postgraduate student at the Higher School of Economics, reported that the agenda was being discussed from May 1 to May 14. The agenda is well thought through and academically substantiated, and split into the two major topics: reform of the international financial architecture and sustainable development. "In the course of the online discussion, each topic was divided into four subtopics," Ardzinba added. "In the first topic, the subtopics are reform of international financial organizations, reform of financial supervision and monitoring, reform of the international capital markets and government debt management. The second topic involves discussion of sustainable development of the global energy markets, streamlining of social policy, infrastructure development as well as food security and environmental protection. Ardzinba also introduced the members of the Russian delegation: Viktor Kalmykov (Vladimir), a Lomonosov Moscow State University student; Artyom Chepurnoy (Norilsk), an alumnus of St.Petersburg State University; Yekaterina Shteinberg (Yekaterinburg), a student of the Russian Academy of International Trade; and Anton Komarov, a student of the Higher School of Economics.
Anton Komarov delivered on the ideas of the Russian youth concerning the reform of the international financial organizations. "The current system of financial regulation and international financial organizations does not fit modern realities," he said. "Only swift targeted reforms prevented the collapse of the international economic and financial system during the crisis. In this regard, the Russian youth are set to present their vision of the IMF and the World Bank reforms. We need to tighten control over capital and currency markets and over the currency exchange rates of the IMF member states, because only tougher international financial regulation can prevent another economic crisis in the future." The Youth 20 representatives also consider it essential to redistribute the IMF quotas in order to achieve greater transparency and better reflect the interests of the emerging countries. "Today, the IMF cannot fully respond to the realities of the modern international financial system. The emerging countries are getting a stronger voice and openly demand more active participation in the management of the international financial system. The Russian youth will pursue this goal," Komarov stressed.
The Russian delegation shares an understanding that a non-transparent policy of assigning ratings by sovereign rating agencies was a catalyst of the international financial crisis, if not its direct cause. For that reason the young people consider it necessary to create an international mechanism for reviewing sovereign rating agencies activities, as well as an international rating agency under the auspices of the G20, accountable to the G20 and the international financial community in general. This will provide better transparency of ratings and decrease investor risks, thereby increasing the volume of international capital flows.
The Y20 Russia 2013 Summit will also discuss countering the negative effects of financial globalization. There are plans to promote an idea of global cooperation in key areas of the world economy, in order to respond to the challenges of the global financial system.
Yekaterina Shteinberg in her turn spoke on the importance of not just enhancing financial control, but also of seeking a balance between state financial supervision and cooperation in this field, as well as avoiding overregulation. "We would like to focus on risk identification since this is the main cause of financial crises, she said. "We advocate a concerted approach to the Basel III system. For it to be effective around the world, a legal framework should be set up, as well as requirements for sufficient capital, so that each country's markets could enjoy the same competitive financial advantages."
The young people also consider international cooperation in trade financing to be indispensable. However, the risks involved in the transition to the Basel III system are what is particularly needed to be taken into account. "We have a proposal to review and update the mathematical model of the Basel III and to add the probability theory to the classical theorems, for example, a theorem of extreme values that will help identify another 20% of the risks that have not yet been registered," Shteinberg commented.
Viktor Kalmykov described the main discussion points related to reforming international capital markets, in particular, when it comes to streamlining the mechanisms of structuring stock market deals. "The urgency of the problem is caused by the fact that, according to many expert groups, a bubble is forming today at the capital markets," Kalmykov said. "This is also due to the fact that the measures undertaken by the authorities help investors not invest money in low-liquidity obligations of states and corporations. Investors prefer the markets of capitals and corporate securities. That's why efficient steps are needed to avert the possibility of terrible consequences that could exceed the dotcom crisis in magnitude."
At the Summit will also be discussed measures on diversifying various types of financial institutions, including diversifying the participants in terms of hedging existing risks or further investments into high-risk stocks.
Special attention will be given to the mechanisms of project financing, state-private partnership, and also micro financing market regulation and the so-called crowd funding.
Artyom Chepurnoy presented the position of the Russian delegation on the topics of government debt management and monetary policy. "The debt crisis in Europe has demonstrated that the existing ways of managing government debt lack efficiency and do not ensure adequate security and stability of state program financing," Chepurnoy said. "The Y20 is going to present recommendations on the following points: methods of sovereign loan management, combating the liquidity crisis, currency market regulation and prevention of currency wars, as well as setting up a currency swap system."
Regarding government debt management, a number of suggestions that are expected to change government stimuli for them to make a more adequate risk assessment and make government loans safer and more responsible will be put forward. "In a crisis, many countries, in particular - the export-oriented ones - have incentives to lower their currency rate to support their producers, which makes their products more attractive and competitive," Chepurnoy continued. "Other countries are also forced to join currency wars and devaluate their currencies. In the short term, the country that is doing this is wining. However, when all countries start doing the same thing, there are no winners. We would like to propose a number of measures to alleviate this problem."
The Russian delegation also commented on the part of the agenda related to sustainable development. Viktor Kalmykov deciphered on reforming energy markets and enhancing energy efficiency. "The modern micro cycle in the development of markets of goods, and primarily, the markets of energy resources, is approaching its end," he said. "We think this is a hot topic, especially since the bulk of the Russian GDP is made up of revenues from oil and gas transfers." The young people suggest, in particular, discussing the issues connected with the development of alternative energy sources, which will diversify the flow of energy resources and thus increase energy security. The agenda also includes a discussion of renewable natural resources and the expansion of power-saving methods and equipment. Anton Komarov also talked about streamlining social policy. He put forward an idea of discussing supportive measures for youth financial inclusion, fighting unemployment among seniors, women and young people, encouraging education as well as improving the quality and increasing accessibility of healthcare services.
"We believe that financial literacy is a major skill, which a person needs to be able to survive and to function effectively in society," Anton Komarov noted. "But this is also a precondition for the long-term strategic development of the country, because financial markets are increasingly integrated into the life of a modern society, and there will be no long-term stable economic growth if its residents lack such skills." Young people think it is necessary to include financial literacy into the basic school curricula. Financial conferences should be organized for young people in large educational centers. State programs should be launched at the international level on promoting financial inclusion and financial education for the young. The notion of financial literacy should be highlighted and specified so as to develop standards for shaping financial competences among the young people. It is reasonable to activate the process of creating and promoting departments of the leading financial organizations in the leading universities of the G20 nations.
In addition, attention is being drawn to launching a system of special loans for the young people and their entrepreneurial projects. "Young people, as a rule, find it hard to raise funds due to low levels of trust on the part of creditors," Komarov said. "We think the state should intervene and initiate issuing special state loans at no interest or at a rate equal to the central bank interest rate in order to boost the entrepreneurial activities of the young people, and through this encourage economic growth."
As for fighting unemployment among seniors, women and young people, governments are called on to set up state training and retraining programs as well as a database of budget vacancies for older people. "They would be able not just to make money and enhance economic growth, but also have some leisure time, these jobs must be like hobbies. For example, in Germany the elderly were offered jobs taking care of city gardens and parks," the Russian delegate explained. To encourage the development of education across the country, international cooperation in this area should be intensified and integration of youth expert communities should be increased for an efficient exchange of experience and knowledge.
Speaking about improving the quality and increasing the accessibility of healthcare services, Anton Komarov drew attention to the need to establish the discussion platforms for exchanging experiences among the G20 healthcare specialists. It is also significant that receiving medical services abroad was made easier and more structured. "The G20 countries have different levels of medical services, and some medical procedures cannot be conducted in certain countries as efficiently as in the other. That is why a mechanism is needed to enable patients from one G20 country to be treated in a different country," the Russian delegation member said. To conclude, Komarov spoke on the initiative to set up the position of a youths' rights ombudsman in the G20 countries with a single coordinating organ under the G20. Yekaterina Shteinberg touched upon the issues of infrastructure development and transportation. "Funding these projects is at the very top of the sustainable development agenda," she stressed. "We propose encouraging state and private cooperation. We suggest that the state should invest in infrastructure, since the lack of it in some regions is a major factor keeping companies from going there. The private sector, meanwhile, should support the infrastructure projects."
Artyom Chepurnoy is confident that it is difficult to discuss sustainable development without considering the environmental issues and sustainable growth, that is why this has been made into a separate point of the Summit's agenda. "We propose promoting the ideas of 'green growth' and more sustainable development by stimulating, rather than regulating," he mentioned.
The Y20 Russia 2013 Summit delegations will shape a common vision for solving the most urgent problems of the G20 agenda, and will express it in a final communiqué that will be forwarded to the G20 Leaders.
Source: Russia in G20
Roman Chukov, Head of the Y20 Russia 2013 Secretariat, reminded that a broad ranged dialogue within Russia's G20 Presidency is being held, including meetings of civil society, entrepreneurs, labour unions, think tanks and youth.
The Y20 Summit will bring together 106 young, active and competent participants from the G20 countries (five delegates from each of the G20 members and one from each of the six invited countries). The Summit is organized by the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs with support from the Russian G20 Sherpa office, the St.Petersburg International Economic Forum Foundation and the Y8 regional youth movement assisting youth initiatives. The Summit will be held in partnership with the International Diplomatic Engagement Association (IDEA) made up of the largest youth organizations from all across the G20.
"The delegates have already met in the virtual space at the Y20 website," Roman Chukov added. "And their first joint effort was to shape the Summit's agenda."
Deputy Head of the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs and Y20 Russia 2013 Summit Organizing Committee deputy chairperson Yelena Bocherova noted that St.Petersburg will witness a dialogue between the leaders of two generations. "The voice of the young is vitally important," she said. "It is very important that a friendly union is forged between the youth leaders of different countries before complicated and controversial international policy draws them toward opposite poles. Our key objective is to lay the foundation for trust between them."
Head of the Russian delegation at the Y20 Russia 2013 Inal Ardzinba (Moscow), a postgraduate student at the Higher School of Economics, reported that the agenda was being discussed from May 1 to May 14. The agenda is well thought through and academically substantiated, and split into the two major topics: reform of the international financial architecture and sustainable development. "In the course of the online discussion, each topic was divided into four subtopics," Ardzinba added. "In the first topic, the subtopics are reform of international financial organizations, reform of financial supervision and monitoring, reform of the international capital markets and government debt management. The second topic involves discussion of sustainable development of the global energy markets, streamlining of social policy, infrastructure development as well as food security and environmental protection. Ardzinba also introduced the members of the Russian delegation: Viktor Kalmykov (Vladimir), a Lomonosov Moscow State University student; Artyom Chepurnoy (Norilsk), an alumnus of St.Petersburg State University; Yekaterina Shteinberg (Yekaterinburg), a student of the Russian Academy of International Trade; and Anton Komarov, a student of the Higher School of Economics.
Anton Komarov delivered on the ideas of the Russian youth concerning the reform of the international financial organizations. "The current system of financial regulation and international financial organizations does not fit modern realities," he said. "Only swift targeted reforms prevented the collapse of the international economic and financial system during the crisis. In this regard, the Russian youth are set to present their vision of the IMF and the World Bank reforms. We need to tighten control over capital and currency markets and over the currency exchange rates of the IMF member states, because only tougher international financial regulation can prevent another economic crisis in the future." The Youth 20 representatives also consider it essential to redistribute the IMF quotas in order to achieve greater transparency and better reflect the interests of the emerging countries. "Today, the IMF cannot fully respond to the realities of the modern international financial system. The emerging countries are getting a stronger voice and openly demand more active participation in the management of the international financial system. The Russian youth will pursue this goal," Komarov stressed.
The Russian delegation shares an understanding that a non-transparent policy of assigning ratings by sovereign rating agencies was a catalyst of the international financial crisis, if not its direct cause. For that reason the young people consider it necessary to create an international mechanism for reviewing sovereign rating agencies activities, as well as an international rating agency under the auspices of the G20, accountable to the G20 and the international financial community in general. This will provide better transparency of ratings and decrease investor risks, thereby increasing the volume of international capital flows.
The Y20 Russia 2013 Summit will also discuss countering the negative effects of financial globalization. There are plans to promote an idea of global cooperation in key areas of the world economy, in order to respond to the challenges of the global financial system.
Yekaterina Shteinberg in her turn spoke on the importance of not just enhancing financial control, but also of seeking a balance between state financial supervision and cooperation in this field, as well as avoiding overregulation. "We would like to focus on risk identification since this is the main cause of financial crises, she said. "We advocate a concerted approach to the Basel III system. For it to be effective around the world, a legal framework should be set up, as well as requirements for sufficient capital, so that each country's markets could enjoy the same competitive financial advantages."
The young people also consider international cooperation in trade financing to be indispensable. However, the risks involved in the transition to the Basel III system are what is particularly needed to be taken into account. "We have a proposal to review and update the mathematical model of the Basel III and to add the probability theory to the classical theorems, for example, a theorem of extreme values that will help identify another 20% of the risks that have not yet been registered," Shteinberg commented.
Viktor Kalmykov described the main discussion points related to reforming international capital markets, in particular, when it comes to streamlining the mechanisms of structuring stock market deals. "The urgency of the problem is caused by the fact that, according to many expert groups, a bubble is forming today at the capital markets," Kalmykov said. "This is also due to the fact that the measures undertaken by the authorities help investors not invest money in low-liquidity obligations of states and corporations. Investors prefer the markets of capitals and corporate securities. That's why efficient steps are needed to avert the possibility of terrible consequences that could exceed the dotcom crisis in magnitude."
At the Summit will also be discussed measures on diversifying various types of financial institutions, including diversifying the participants in terms of hedging existing risks or further investments into high-risk stocks.
Special attention will be given to the mechanisms of project financing, state-private partnership, and also micro financing market regulation and the so-called crowd funding.
Artyom Chepurnoy presented the position of the Russian delegation on the topics of government debt management and monetary policy. "The debt crisis in Europe has demonstrated that the existing ways of managing government debt lack efficiency and do not ensure adequate security and stability of state program financing," Chepurnoy said. "The Y20 is going to present recommendations on the following points: methods of sovereign loan management, combating the liquidity crisis, currency market regulation and prevention of currency wars, as well as setting up a currency swap system."
Regarding government debt management, a number of suggestions that are expected to change government stimuli for them to make a more adequate risk assessment and make government loans safer and more responsible will be put forward. "In a crisis, many countries, in particular - the export-oriented ones - have incentives to lower their currency rate to support their producers, which makes their products more attractive and competitive," Chepurnoy continued. "Other countries are also forced to join currency wars and devaluate their currencies. In the short term, the country that is doing this is wining. However, when all countries start doing the same thing, there are no winners. We would like to propose a number of measures to alleviate this problem."
The Russian delegation also commented on the part of the agenda related to sustainable development. Viktor Kalmykov deciphered on reforming energy markets and enhancing energy efficiency. "The modern micro cycle in the development of markets of goods, and primarily, the markets of energy resources, is approaching its end," he said. "We think this is a hot topic, especially since the bulk of the Russian GDP is made up of revenues from oil and gas transfers." The young people suggest, in particular, discussing the issues connected with the development of alternative energy sources, which will diversify the flow of energy resources and thus increase energy security. The agenda also includes a discussion of renewable natural resources and the expansion of power-saving methods and equipment. Anton Komarov also talked about streamlining social policy. He put forward an idea of discussing supportive measures for youth financial inclusion, fighting unemployment among seniors, women and young people, encouraging education as well as improving the quality and increasing accessibility of healthcare services.
"We believe that financial literacy is a major skill, which a person needs to be able to survive and to function effectively in society," Anton Komarov noted. "But this is also a precondition for the long-term strategic development of the country, because financial markets are increasingly integrated into the life of a modern society, and there will be no long-term stable economic growth if its residents lack such skills." Young people think it is necessary to include financial literacy into the basic school curricula. Financial conferences should be organized for young people in large educational centers. State programs should be launched at the international level on promoting financial inclusion and financial education for the young. The notion of financial literacy should be highlighted and specified so as to develop standards for shaping financial competences among the young people. It is reasonable to activate the process of creating and promoting departments of the leading financial organizations in the leading universities of the G20 nations.
In addition, attention is being drawn to launching a system of special loans for the young people and their entrepreneurial projects. "Young people, as a rule, find it hard to raise funds due to low levels of trust on the part of creditors," Komarov said. "We think the state should intervene and initiate issuing special state loans at no interest or at a rate equal to the central bank interest rate in order to boost the entrepreneurial activities of the young people, and through this encourage economic growth."
As for fighting unemployment among seniors, women and young people, governments are called on to set up state training and retraining programs as well as a database of budget vacancies for older people. "They would be able not just to make money and enhance economic growth, but also have some leisure time, these jobs must be like hobbies. For example, in Germany the elderly were offered jobs taking care of city gardens and parks," the Russian delegate explained. To encourage the development of education across the country, international cooperation in this area should be intensified and integration of youth expert communities should be increased for an efficient exchange of experience and knowledge.
Speaking about improving the quality and increasing the accessibility of healthcare services, Anton Komarov drew attention to the need to establish the discussion platforms for exchanging experiences among the G20 healthcare specialists. It is also significant that receiving medical services abroad was made easier and more structured. "The G20 countries have different levels of medical services, and some medical procedures cannot be conducted in certain countries as efficiently as in the other. That is why a mechanism is needed to enable patients from one G20 country to be treated in a different country," the Russian delegation member said. To conclude, Komarov spoke on the initiative to set up the position of a youths' rights ombudsman in the G20 countries with a single coordinating organ under the G20. Yekaterina Shteinberg touched upon the issues of infrastructure development and transportation. "Funding these projects is at the very top of the sustainable development agenda," she stressed. "We propose encouraging state and private cooperation. We suggest that the state should invest in infrastructure, since the lack of it in some regions is a major factor keeping companies from going there. The private sector, meanwhile, should support the infrastructure projects."
Artyom Chepurnoy is confident that it is difficult to discuss sustainable development without considering the environmental issues and sustainable growth, that is why this has been made into a separate point of the Summit's agenda. "We propose promoting the ideas of 'green growth' and more sustainable development by stimulating, rather than regulating," he mentioned.
The Y20 Russia 2013 Summit delegations will shape a common vision for solving the most urgent problems of the G20 agenda, and will express it in a final communiqué that will be forwarded to the G20 Leaders.
Source: Russia in G20