THE LAST G20 MEETING ON DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE MEXICAN PRESIDENCY COMES TO A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION

• The Development Working Group (DWG) praised the progress made on food security, green growth and infrastructure development under the Mexican presidency.

After two intense days of meetings among more than 100 delegates from the G20 member countries and guests and about 13 international organizations, the fourth and final meeting of the G20 Development Working Group (DWG) under the Mexican presidency came to an end.

All member countries were represented at the meeting, as were Spain, Sweden, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations (UN), the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), among others.

The Mexican delegation was led by the Executive Director of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), Rogelio Granguillhome Morfin, and other representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Environment and Natural Resources.

At the meeting, held from October 3-5 in Bali, Indonesia, the progress made on the DWG’s issues were discussed, with a focus on the three priorities of the Mexican presidency: food security, green growth and infrastructure development.

On the issue of inclusive green growth, the progress made on establishing a public-private dialogue to increase inclusive green investment was discussed, as were proposals on national policy guidelines for green growth.

Regarding infrastructure, the progress made on developing a toolkit for urban mass transportation projects in medium and large cities in developing countries, with a focus on urban sustainability, was discussed. The final version will be presented in December this year.

On food security, the international community needs to intensify its efforts to increase agricultural productivity in developing countries. The DWG acknowledged the progress made in implementing the projects launched over the past two years to strengthen food security.

Mexico presented the results of the first meeting of agricultural scientists that was held in Guadalajara last September.

Among other issues, the DWG reiterated the importance of remittances in supporting the development of migrants´ communities of origin and discussed the World Bank’s latest report on the commitment to reduce the overall average cost of remittances to 5% by 2014. Many countries still need to increase their efforts in this area.

Other topics included trade, private investment and job creation, social protection, financial inclusion, the mobilization of private resources, and knowledge transfer. Following a decision at the Los Cabos G20 Leaders’ Summit in June, the DWG developed proposals for a way to evaluate projects and make them accountable that will be ready next year. This will make the development work of the G20 more effective and transparent.

In his closing speech, Rogelio Granguillhome thanked the countries and international organizations that made Mexico’s presidency successful this year. He also thanked all the Mexican governmental agencies that helped the Foreign Ministry during the presidency. He wished success to the Russian representative. As the next president of the G20 and the DWG, it will be Russia’s turn to head the group’s efforts in development.