ISTANBUL
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had praise late Sunday for the Group of Twenty or G20 major economies conference that Turkey begins hosting early this week.
During a working dinner in Istanbul on the eve of the conference, Davutoglu lauded the event's inclusive nature in comparison to the United Nations Security Council permanent group, or P5, and called G20 the most up-to-date international platform.
He also said that Turkey would take the opportunity -- as holder of the G20 rotating presidency -- to become a 'bridge' between G20 economies and the least develop countries, or LDC, group.
Criticizing lack of reform in international organizations in the post-Cold War era, Davutoglu said on P5: "They cannot agree on Syria. If they cannot agree on Syria or Ukraine for this or that reason, they don’t have much price [to pay]; we are paying the price as neighboring countries. And for the last four years there was no single inclusive or by-consensus decision on Syria.
"So we have been talking in long meetings about reform of United Nations for the last 25 years, but still, there is no single step forward; neither in structure, nor in mission,” he said.
"But G20 is a real global society; you can see African, Asian, European, American, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist. All of them are around the table.
"G20 is the only post-Cold War platform adapted to the new international context.”
Davutoglu also outlined Turkey's approach to G20 in "three I's: Inclusiveness, implementation and investment."
"Inclusiveness is because without an inclusive approach, you cannot deal with any problem," he said, referring to lack of representation from different cultures and faiths in the P5 group, contrasting it with the G20 platform.
Davutoglu added that implementation was what would bring promises and ideas to fruit, and that investment was the driving force behind economic growth.
G20 begins Monday through Tuesday with meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors in finance capital Istanbul. It will then resume at the end of the month with sessions on energy and employment in the popular tourist resort Antalya in southern Turkey.
