Concluding their first 2014 meeting in Sydney, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors agreed on a global growth target of at least two percentage points over the next five years and reiterated their commitment on initiatives to promote long-term investment, especially in infrastructure and SMEs. Furthermore, they endorsed a global tax transparency standard.

Representing the Council of the EU, the Greek Presidency underlines the fact that the EU’s objectives, aimed at developing ambitious strategies to support growth and jobs, as well as investment, trade and international cooperation in tax matters, have been broadly embraced.

The G20 nations welcomed recent signs of improvement in the global economy. Nevertheless, with global recovery remaining fragile, they committed to developing new measures to significantly raise global growth, while preserving fiscal sustainability and financial sector stability. To achieve this, and aligned with the EU targets, G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors agreed on concrete actions which include, among others, to increase investment, lift employment and labour participation, enhance trade and promote competition, in addition to macroeconomic policies.

The G20 confirmed the importance of completing core reforms in the financial regulation area, that is building resilient financial institutions, ending “too-big-to-fail”, addressing shadow banking risks and making derivatives markets safer.

The Presidency notes with satisfaction that particularly in financing infrastructure and small and medium-sized enterprises, the G20 committed to undertake reforms to improve the investment climate, by removing constraints to private investment, by establishing sound policies and stable regulatory frameworks and by emphasizing the role of market incentives and disciplines.

Finally, the G20 endorsed a Common Reporting Standard for automatic exchange of information on taxation on a reciprocal basis, in order to enhance transparency and fight tax fraud and tax evasion. The new standard was developed by the OECD, with strong support and input from the EU.