MOSCOW June 14 (Itar-Tass) - The Eurasian Development Bank is opening doors to markets and calling for dialogue with civil activists, EDB Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Sergei Shatalov said after Civil 20 summit in Moscow on Thursday, June 13.
“The Eurasian Development Bank’s main mission is to facilitate integration processes and stimulate anti-crisis economies of our six countries which are members of the Bank [Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan],” he said.
“Each U.S. dollar invested by the Eurasian Development Bank in the economy of our countries brings 1 US dollar and 80 cents worth of additional GDP every year. We offer business and manufacturers access to a broader common market of our countries through investment projects,” Shatalov said.
He urged his colleagues to get engaged in dialogue with civil activists and cited successful dialogue with environmental organisations as an example.
The Civil 20 Summit brought together more than 350 representatives of civil society, international organisations, business, mass media, and government officials.
The Russian G20 Sherpa, Chief of the Presidential Experts’ Directorate Ksenia Yudaeva noted that the Civil 20 Summit was preceded by extensive preliminary work. Consultations of the Organising Committee and the Secretariat of the Civil Summit with global civil society started in December 2012. Firstly, the main strands for the Civil 20 recommendations for the G20 had been identified. After that open discussion was launched through the “Dialogues” internet platform, any volunteer had a chance to share his or her proposals. The preliminary recommendations were further considered by the G20 Working Groups’ and at the G20 Sherpas’ meetings. “For the first time in the G20 history interaction with civil society was organised on the working level, during the period of the G20's documents preparation,” Yudaeva emphasised.
She also pointed out that the most intensive collaboration with civil society took place on the issues of the development agenda - the sphere in which civil society is traditionally very active. “In this field civil society is not only presenting its recommendations, but performing a great deal of practical work,” the Russian Sherpa stressed. “Many recommendations are focused on the issues of employment, financial markets development. Civil society is also introducing new topics for the G20. For instance, the issue of environment protection until recently was not actually present on the G20 agenda. But environmental issues are of high importance for civil society.”
“Within the framework of the Civil 20 Summit discussion on the draft recommendations will take place, and on June 14 final recommendations will be presented to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin,” Yudaeva concluded.
Mikhail Fedotov, Chairman of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, noted high professionalism of the recommendations developed by the C20 working groups. “This experience in no way should be lost,” Fedotov said. “It should be continued; it should be further intensified. Next year within the Australian Presidency it is important for the G20 not to lose these deliverables, contacts and net-groups. It is vital that the G20 Leaders hear the civil society recommendations. Ongoing dialogue between governments and civil society is critically important. This is the key to global development.”
The Civil 20 Summit is a crowning event of the civil track within the Russian G20 Presidency. The C20 is aimed at fruitful dialogue between global civil society, politicians and decision-makers with the focus on the priorities set out in the official agenda of Russia's G20 Presidency. The outcomes of the Civil Summit will be reflected in the Civil Communique, addressed to the G20 Leaders. It is expected that the Civil 20 recommendations will influence the G20 Summit agenda and the Leaders' final Communique.