Summary of G20 Meet

Economic growth: The leaders of the world’s most powerful industrial economies pledged to grow their combined economic output by an extra 2.1% – around $2 trillion – over the next five years. This was above the 2% goal they were initially targeting. The strategy to achieve this goal through domestic policy reforms will be known as the “Brisbane Action Plan”.

Infrastructure investment: The summit agreed to launch the Global Infrastructure Initiative to unlock private financing for infrastructure investment worldwide, including the creation of a Global Infrastructure Hub based in Sydney to support best practices and coordination.

Trade liberalisation: Increased global trade will be a requirement if the G20 is to achieve its growth target. The leaders committed to the implement all elements of the Bali package and swiftly define a WTO work programme on the remaining issues of the Doha Development Agenda.

Tax and financial regulation: The G20 leaders agreed to complete by 2015-end a plan to combat tax avoidance by multinational companies. They also vowed to strengthen financial institutions, protect taxpayers from having to fund bailouts of “too big to fail” banks and to make derivative markets safer.

Gender Equality: The summit won a commitment by each country to close the gap between its male and female labour-force participation rates by 25% by 2025. This will bring an estimated 100 million additional women into the labour force.

Energy: In a first, a session was dedicated to energy issues and the participants agreed that energy will now be at the heart of the G20 agenda, with strong and resilient energy markets critical to economic growth. They asked energy ministers to meet and report back on options to take this work forward.

Ebola: While not on the official agenda, leaders expressed support for an urgent coordinated international response to the crisis raging in West Africa. They called on international financial institutions to assist affected countries.

Climate: The G20 leaders committed to addressing the challenge of climate change including communicating post-2020 domestic climate targets as soon as possible and preferably by the first quarter of 2015. They also stressed the importance of climate finance, including contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

“The thing about the G20 is that it is large enough to be representative of the wider world and it’s small enough to be effective,” said Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott after the summit. “People around the world are going to be better off, and that’s what it’s all about”.

2016: Turkey takes over the presidency from Australia and will host the summit in Antalya next year, and China would be home to the G20 in 2016, the group said in a communique.