ICC and WEF launch B20 task forces in Davos alongside President Calderon

The launch, held in Davos, Switzerland, in conjunction with the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, was organized by the Mexican Government, which is hosting the B20 Summit, being held in parallel to the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, 18-19 June 2012.

Mr Calderon said he would organize individual video conferences with each working group. The aim of these task forces is to provide recommendations from global business to G20 leaders on key issues including food security, green growth, trade and investment, employment, advocacy and impact, transparency and anti-corruption, information and communication technologies and innovation, and finance.

“It is clear from this launch event, and the policy process that has been defined in the lead-up to the B20 Summit in Los Cabos, that President Calderon is solidly behind this effort and will personally ensure the success of the B20,” said Mr Carrier.

ICC will play a lead role in providing input to this process on the topic of trade and investment, which remains a high priority on the business agenda. CEOs from the ICC G20 Advisory Group will take part in the various working groups being convened ahead of the Summit.

“Business has much to contribute to the G20 agenda and could in particular help to generate jobs and growth,” he said. “Dialogue between G20 leaders and global business has been growing stronger from Summit to Summit, and for Mexico we hope to build upon progress already made in Seoul and Cannes.”

Mr Carrier was among several speakers – including Mr Calderon, WEF Chief Business Officer Robert Greenhill, and Mexican business leader Alejandro Ramirez, who chairs the organizing committee for the B20 Summit – to address attendees. Among the approximately 120 CEOs who attended the meeting, at the invitation of the Mexican President, were the CEOs of The Coca-Cola Company, Proctor and Gamble, and McKinsey and Company.

Zurich Financial Services CEO Martin Senn, who is a member of ICC’s G20 Advisory Group, chaired the first session of the trade and investment task force following the breakfast launch.

Concrete proposals from the B20 task forces will be transmitted to Mr Calderon and G20 ministers during the WEF’s Latin America Summit in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, 16-18 April, for input to the G20 Summit in June.

The Mexican government invited ICC to play a leading role in preparations for Los Cabos, based on its history of advocacy work with the G8 and contributions to the B20 Summits in Seoul and Cannes. ICC will evaluate the impacts of business recommendations on Summit declarations, coordinate policy working groups and conduct consultations with businesses worldwide.

ICC, working with the assistance of ICC Mexico, and under the leadership of the ICC G20 Advisory Group, is mobilizing its global network to prepare these specific proposals to G20 leaders.

About the G20 Advisory Group

The ICC G20 Advisory Group, an initiative of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), is a platform for global business to provide input to the work of the G20 on an on-going basis. The Group mobilizes ICC’s worldwide policy-making expertise and solicits priorities and recommendations from companies and business organizations of all sizes and in all regions of the world. The Group comprises approximately 20 CEOs working to ensure that the voice of business is heard by governments, the public and the media before, during and after each Summit.