G20 Hangzhou summit to help lead global economy out of crisis: Turkish expert

ANKARA - The upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit in China will help the global economy overcome lingering problems and adverse effects in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a Turkish expert has told Xinhua.

"We are expecting much from this year's G20 and the Business 20 (B20) summits in China," said Sarp Kalkan, the B20 sherpa of 2015 Turkish presidency, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The 11th G20 summit will be held on September 4-5 in China's eastern city of Hangzhou under the theme of "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy."

"This year's G20 is very important because China is holding the G20 summit," Kalkan said, adding that the world's second largest economy is growing very rapidly and taking a larger share of the world economy.

Kalkan noted that the world economy suffered a lot from the 2008 financial crisis and is undergoing a massive transformation. "It is not an easy issue and it will take some time for this issue (to be solved)."

"Nowadays, the U.S. economy is growing steadily, but we have problems in the European economy and also some emerging markets facing some big problems," he said.

"At the end of the day, we have to find a way to get out of this crisis. ... That's why we are expecting much from the Chinese summit," he noted.

"I think the Chinese G20 summit will help this, and I think in the coming two or three years we will get rid of these adverse effects of the global financial crisis," he said.

China has been pursuing reforms to shift its economic model away from an export-oriented economy to one based on consumption and innovation, Kalkan said.

"Having China, which is a strong global player, to be more sustainable is very important for the world economy. We are seeing the impact of these changes nowadays and in the upcoming period," he added.

China, which is shifting from a "world factory" to a foreign investment base, is trying to build win-win economic relations with countries under the Belt and Road Initiative.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is very important for us, we are supporting it very strongly," Kalkan said. "Having an interconnected world from Asia to Europe is also the goal of Turkish business people and economy... Turkey is giving special importance to revitalize the ancient Silk Road with the Belt and Road Initiative of China."

Talking about the theme of the Hangzhou summit, Kalkan said two issues are especially important for the world economy this year.

"The first one is innovation because we have to be innovative in policy making, technology and in all means. We have to be innovative to get out of these adverse impacts of global financial crisis," he said.

"Secondly, as Turkish business people, we are giving special importance to inter-connectivity because we are living in a global economy. All economic units in the global economy have to be interconnected," he added.

The B20 summit, to be held on September 3-4, is an integral part of the G20 Hangzhou Summit that provides a significant platform for the international business community to participate in global economic governance and international economic and trade regulation.

Kalkan, a policy advisor of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), said the TOBB delegation will go to China for the B20 summit.

"The B20 is the highest level meeting of business people from all around the world. They are coming to China to see and to impact. I think this year's B20 will have great results," he said.

"During last year's B20 summit, we worked with lots of Chinese companies and business people," he said. "Chinese companies like Alibaba Group are growing very rapidly. We worked a lot with Alibaba people and hope to meet Jack Ma of Alibaba at the coming B20," he added.