User:KEA65/G8 Business

G8 Business is a group of the major business organizations representing the private sector in the countries that make up the so-called Group of 8 (G8) plus the European Union. Canada is represented by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, France by Mouvement des Enterprises de France (MEDEF), Germany by the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Italy by the Confederation of Italian Industry (CONFINDUSTRIA), Japan by Nippon Keidanren, Russia by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), and the United States by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,  the U.S. Council for International Business, and the Business Roundtable. The European Union is represented by BUSINESSEUROPE. The leaders of these organizations usually meet in advance of the annual G8 Summit in order to discuss and agree upon key recommendations to the political leaders which impact the global economy and job creation.

History:
The first G8 Business Summit was organized by BDI and held in Berlin, Germany on April 25, 2007. At this meeting, under the theme of ‘Growth and Responsibility’, G8 Business called on G8 political leaders to address mounting challenges to the trading system, the international investment regime, the efficiency of capital markets, the structure and rules for enforcement of intellectual property protection, and global environmental conditions. Business leaders also urged governments to establish appropriate policies to encourage greater private sector engagement in Africa. The second G8 Business Summit was organized by Nippon Keidanren and held in Tokyo, Japan on April 17, 2008. At this meeting business leaders exchanged views on the themes of "enhancing competitiveness through innovation", "tackling climate change", and "partnership with Asia as a center of growth".

An extraordinary Summit, organized by MEDEF and dedicated to the financial crisis, was held on December 3-4, 2008 in Paris, France. Against a backdrop of continued worsening of the global financial and economic situation, business leaders emphasized that further government action be galvanized around four core values: free market economy, transparency, responsibility, and open trade and investment.

The most recent G8 Business Summit was hosted by CONFINDUSTRIA and held on April 24, 2009 in Santa de Margherita di Pula, Italy. This Summit focused on three issues: responses to the financial and economic crisis, free trade and investment, and the need to tackle climate change. The business leaders re-affirmed the recommendations to political leaders made in December 2008 and urged that they be rapidly implemented. They further welcomed the results of the G20 London Summit which, they stated, represented a strong signal of international cooperation.

The next G8 Business summit will be organized by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in 2010.

Issues and Activities:
Santa de Margherita di Pula Summit 2009: At this Summit, business leaders discussed the response to the financial and economic crisis; free trade and investment; and climate change.

With respect to the financial and economic crisis, business leaders gave the following recommendations highest priority.


 * Increase international coordination on an ongoing basis.
 * Public support of faltering companies and markets must be temporary and focused.
 * Public support must focus on key factors and not undermine competition.
 * Review Basel II
 * The IMF's role and capacities must be further enhanced.
 * Regulation must strengthen and encourage transparency while not impeding responsible innovation in financial markets.
 * Increase public disclosure.
 * Review the cross-border supervision of rating agencies.
 * Establish a common system of public support for trade insurance.
 * Financial reporting and fair value measurement must be differentiated and harmonized.
 * Improve prompt payment from public bodies.

On free trade and investment, G8 Business noted that the crisis had led to worldwide trade flows suffering their biggest decline since World War II. They emphasized that the economic situation requires G8 Governments to publicly renew their full commitment to an open global economy. Specifically, business leaders urge the G8 Governments to:


 * Conclude the Doha Round with an ambitious and balanced agreement in 2009.
 * Refrain from raising new barriers to trade and investment.
 * Strengthen the monitoring system on protectionist measures.
 * Create domestic and regional demand in developing countries through effective aid.
 * Promote non-discriminatory markets for raw materials.
 * Promote skilled labor market mobility in an open services market.
 * Gradually eliminate restrictions to foreign investment.
 * Promote the protection of investment and of investor's rights.
 * Address Sovereign Wealth Funds in a coordinated and balanced way.

Regarding climate change, business leaders agreed that it is one of the main challenges of the 21st century because it brings together the necessity to meet real needs for energy, development, and economic growth. They urged political leaders to:


 * Agree on clear, equitable and firm worldwide commitments to emission reductions at COP15 (the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties).
 * Share the burden of emission reductions among all sectors of society.
 * Balance the return to economic growth, with environmental needs, energy security and industry competitiveness.
 * Reject discriminatory measures.
 * Support innovation.
 * Explore the potential of sectoral approaches.
 * Explore the full variety of policies to address greenhouse gas emissions.
 * Strive for full exploitation of energy efficiency.
 * Provide the necessary technological and financial assistance to developing countries.
 * Protect intellectual property rights.
 * Liberalize trade in environmental goods and services.

Paris Summit 2008: This extraordinary Summit was held in response to the unprecedented financial and economic crisis. At this meeting, the business leaders called on G8 governments to:


 * Ensure the effectiveness of economic recovery plans to enable a return to normal bank lending and capital market operations.
 * Ensure that governments’ macroeconomic policies be both daring and carefully tailored, with regard to the public deficit, and to pay attention to cross-border spillovers.
 * Promptly conclude an ambitious and balanced WTO Doha Development Agenda agreement.
 * Reform financial markets based on coordination, a global approach and adequate regulation.
 * Recognize that recovery based on creating sustainable jobs and wealth will come from companies’ investments and innovations.
 * Recognize the need for solidarity to avoid a ‘domino effect’ which could worsen the situation.

G8 Business also made four recommendations for financial market reform. Their recommendations underscored the need for:


 * Cross-border consultation and cooperation in the regulation of financial markets so that the national regulators may consult and work together to ascertain systemic risk and ensure the international flows of capital necessary to provide for sustainable worldwide growth.
 * Standardization of international accounting and auditing practices centered around transparency, independence of standard letters, efficient and effective governance, and the recognition that accounting rules are tools for common understanding mirroring economic activity, not drivers of it.
 * Oversight of rating agencies by creating a distinction between the rating of issuer debt (known as a financial rating) and the rating of structured products; separating financial rating and advisory activities; introducing a system of authorization and supervision that reflects market realities, supporting supervision of the IOSCO code of conduct; and reminding informed investors of their risk analysis responsibilities.
 * Transparency requirements for funds such as sovereign wealth funds, alternative management funds and hedge funds.

Tokyo Summit 2008: Against a backdrop of unprecedented economic globalization and the growing challenges of demand for energy, raw materials and food; climate change; and financial market volatility, G8 Business outlined five recommendations for priority consideration by government leaders. They urged G8 as well as emerging economy leaders to:


 * Secure stability and growth of the world economy by paying close attention to the need for private financial institutions to reinforce their capital positions as deemed necessary; monitoring exchange markets; removing trade and investment restrictions; and strong coordination of efforts.
 * Promote and protect innovation by taking such measures as increasing the budget for science and technology, improving science/industry cooperation, improving R&D tax systems, reinforcing human resources including support for higher education, protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights and moving towards harmonization of patent systems.
 * Tackle climate change by achieving meaningful emission reductions by all major green house gas emitters while assuring economic development and access to reliable, affordable and secure energy supplies.
 * Promote liberalization of trade and investment by resisting the mounting political pressures for protectionism and concluding the WTO's Doha Development Agenda negotiations and supporting efforts by multilateral organizations to create codes of conduct in order to enhance transparency and accountability of sovereign wealth funds and open investment best practices for recipient countries.
 * Solve development issues through economic growth by the private sector including such measures as improving and expanding the framework for public-private partnership, providing incentives for investments in developing countries, and encouraging investments in infrastructure.

Berlin Summit 2007:  In advance of the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, G8 Business urged six action items. Specifically, G8 Governments should:


 * Take immediate action to break the current political impasse of the Doha Round, particularly on agriculture, to secure a result that includes reductions in trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and tariffs, a significant reduction in applied tariffs on manufactured goods in both industrialized and newly industrialized countries, substantial further liberalization of trade in services, improvements in trade facilitation, and strengthened WTO rules.
 * Increase their intergovernmental coordination to enforce intellectual property rights, engage in a coordinated, constructive dialogue with newly industrializing and developing countries to improve enforcement worldwide, and support business efforts to reduce the demand for counterfeit products.
 * Take action at the highest level to avoid investment protectionism and to reaffirm, in word and practice, the open investment policies and commitments to investors’ rights that have served as a key agent of economic growth, including technological innovation, in recent decades.
 * Address issues aimed at maintaining the stability of capital markets, including the development by market participants of transparency standards and options for mitigating financial market risk.
 * Promote, as an urgent matter, the creation of long-term value for green house gas reductions and partnerships with rapidly industrializing countries.
 * Improve framework conditions, in collaboration with African governments, particularly in public governance and property rights, and support new participants in development cooperation to follow internationally recognized standards.

References and links:
http://www.medef.fr

http://www.bdi-online.de

http://www.cbi.org.uk

http://www.rspp.ru

http://www.keidanren.or.jp

http://www.uschamber.com

http://www.uscib.org

http://www.businessroundtable.org

http://www.chamber.ca

http://www.businesseurope.eu

http://www.g8italia2009.it

http://web2003.confindustria.it/Conf2004/DbDoc2004.nsf/d2d2a9c6eb160539c1256f27002b5860/d05733b8889c5b41c12575a20047a0d8/$FILE/G8_Business_2008%20Paris.PDF

http://web2003.confindustria.it/Conf2004/DbDoc2004.nsf/d2d2a9c6eb160539c1256f27002b5860/d05733b8889c5b41c12575a20047a0d8/$FILE/G8_Business_2007.pdf

http://web2003.confindustria.it/Conf2004/DbDoc2004.nsf/DOCST/D05733B8889C5B41C12575A20047A0D8?OpenDocument

http://g8live.org/2009/04/24/g8-business-federation-heads-unite-on-need-to-avoid-credit-crunch/

http://www.env.go.jp/earth/g8/mats080524a/05nk-handout2_en.pdf

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/g8-business-groups-urge-innovation-to-fight-global-warming_10039067.html

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90002/94325/94327/6442331.html

http://www.g8italia2009.it/G8/Home/News/G8-G8_Layout_locale-1199882116809_1199893986751.htm

http://www.g-8.de/nn_94646/Content/EN/Artikel/2007/04/2007-04-25-merkel-g8-business-summit__en.html

http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/summit/2008/doc/doc080714__en.html

http://www.g20.org