G-20 Economy Takes Back Seat to Terror as Paris Looms Over Talks

Paris (Nov 15)  With terrorism dominating discussions among world leaders meeting in the wake of the slaughter in Paris, the Group of 20 nations prepared to commit to tackling the poverty that some leaders said fueled extremism.

The G-20 will say that rising inequalities in many countries may pose a risk to social cohesion, according to a draft of the final conclusions obtained by Bloomberg News. In it, member governments will pledge to create jobs and bolster inclusiveness while targeting an additional 2 percent growth in gross domestic product by 2018. As well as the economic communique, a separate statement on terrorism will talk of striking at the heart of terrorist financing and tightening border controls.

“We have to wonder whether one of the causes of these terrorist attacks is jealousy,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech Sunday at the opening of the two-day summit. “We have to investigate whether unemployment, poverty caused these attacks.”

While the G-20 was originally established to foster joint action on the economy and financial stability, this year’s gathering in the Turkish resort in Antalya was always going to be overshadowed by the Syrian civil war next door and the resulting flow of refugees. As French authorities examine how militants slipped through the security net to kill at least 129 people in Paris on Friday night, G-20 leaders signaled unity on tackling the threat of more violence as well as its root causes.

Draft Message

Much of the diplomacy behind the G-20’s statements was already completed before the attacks. The draft addressed the need to boost slower-than-expected economic growth and for central banks to maintain price stability, a clamp down on global tax evasion, corruption and an end to “too-big-to-fail” banks. It said risks and uncertainties remain in financial markets.

With last month’s bomb in Ankara and the downing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt also looming over the meeting, early talks between leaders concentrated on orchestrating efforts to tackle Islamic State and efforts to end the war in Syria.

The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the carnage in Paris in retaliation for French airstrikes on what it calls its “caliphate” in parts of Iraq and Syria. The group, which has added affiliate movements in the last year, wants to spread its extremist version of Islam across the Middle East and beyond.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin shook hands as they met for the first time since Moscow sent warplanes into Syria to prop up leader Bashar al-Assad.

With the European Union divided over taking in refugees from the conflict, the bloc’s president, Donald Tusk, urged Russia to focus its military action more on the fight against jihadists. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned against conflating Syrian migrants with the terrorists that attacked Paris in the worst atrocity in a western capital since the Madrid bombing in 2004.

Source: Bloomberg