The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 17, 2014

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Passing of Dr. Martin Salia

We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of Dr. Martin Salia, who succumbed this morning to Ebola at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, despite the heroic efforts of that institution’s incredibly talented team. Dr. Salia leaves behind loved ones in the United States, his adopted homeland, and in Sierra Leone, where he was born. A general surgeon, Dr. Salia dedicated his life to saving others. He viewed this vocation as his calling, telling his fellow United Methodist Church members that he pursued medicine not because he wanted to, but because he firmly believed it was God’s will for him. Dr. Salia’s passing is another reminder of the human toll of this disease and of the continued imperative to tackle this epidemic on the frontlines, where Dr. Salia was engaged in his calling.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 17, 2014

FACT SHEET: President Obama’s SupplierPay Initiative Expands; 21 Additional Companies Pledge to Strengthen America’s Small Businesses

Today, the White House and the Small Business Administration announced an expansion of President Obama’s SupplierPay initiative, a partnership with the private sector to strengthen small businesses by increasing their working capital, so they can grow and hire more workers.

Twenty-one companies are joining the 26 companies that adopted the SupplierPay pledge at a launch announcement with President Obama in July. As part of the SupplierPay initiative, companies pledge to pay their small suppliers faster or enable a financing solution that helps them access working capital at a lower cost.

The SupplierPay initiative helps address the difficulties small businesses face in accessing affordable working capital. Reducing the time it takes for smaller suppliers to get paid or lowering their short-term borrowing costs enables them to devote more of their resources to investing in their business, hiring, and growing.

Also today, the Commerce Department is releasing a new report which finds that the larger companies participating in the SupplierPay initiative also have the potential to realize significant economic benefits.  High working capital costs for small suppliers can get passed onto large customers in the form of lower-quality goods and services, less stable suppliers, and higher prices. Reducing working capital costs—as SupplierPay companies are doing—unlocks capital to be put to work for the benefit of large buyers, and for the entire economy, according to the report. 

Today’s SupplierPay Working Session

Also today, the White House will hold a SupplierPay working session hosted by National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients and SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet. The working session will bring together both existing and new SupplierPay companies to discuss actions companies are taking to implement the SupplierPay pledge, and ensure the metrics are in place to track and measure impact of this initiative going forward. 

The following new companies have signed on to SupplierPay:

Akima
Chenega Corporation
Chugach Alaska
Cook Inlet Region, Inc.
ConAgra Foods, Inc.
Dominion Resources, Inc.
Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.
Intel Corp.
Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Kaiser Permanente
McGraw Hill Financial, Inc.
Nova Corp., Inc.
Oracle Corp.
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Sealaska
Siemens Corp.
Sempra Energy
Southern California Edison Co.
3M Co.
Xerox Corp.
Zappos.com., Inc.

A list of the 26 SupplierPay participants announced in July is available here.

SupplierPay Builds on Success of Federal Government’s QuickPay Initiative

SupplierPay builds on the success of the Federal Government’s QuickPay initiative, which President Obama launched in 2011 and renewed in July to help accelerate payments to federal small business subcontractors. Under QuickPay, the federal government pays its large contractors faster and, in return, requires them to pay their small business subcontractors faster.

SupplierPay Impact

SupplierPay companies participating in today’s meeting will be providing updates on how they are implementing this initiative and accelerating payments to their small suppliers. Among the examples that will be discussed:

  • Intuit. After taking the pledge, Intuit surveyed its supplier base and offered 10-day payment terms to 320 small businesses. Intuit also moved all of its 80+ independent contractors to contracts that committed to pay them within 10 days. Intuit’s actions will impact an estimated $40 million in payments this year, and an estimated $80 million in annual payments when more small and medium-sized suppliers are brought on board. “Prompt payment is important to small firms such as mine,” said Jeff Adams, owner of Jeff Adams Copywriting in Santee, CA.
  • Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest security and aerospace company, sources more than 60 percent of its work through its supply chain, which includes more than 15,000 companies across all 50 states. More than half of these suppliers are small businesses, with whom the company did $4.9 billion worth of business in fiscal year 2014. Lockheed Martin is committed to expedited payments and is paying 100 percent of small business supplier invoices on an accelerated schedule. The company’s supplier portal flags small businesses so Lockheed Martin can accelerate payment, cutting time to payment in half to just 15 days.
  • Siemens. Siemens has more than 100 U.S. manufacturing sites and more than 60,000 U.S. employees. Just last year, Siemens’ Procurement & Logistics small business spending was approximately $266 million, and its spending on small and diverse companies was 16 percent of its total overall annual spending. A new participant in the SupplierPay initiative, Siemens offers small business suppliers a supply chain finance program which includes several supplier benefits such as cash flow improvement, working capital optimization, cost reduction, and cash flow transparency. About 1,300 Siemens North America suppliers participate in its supply chain finance program.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

Small businesses play a vital role in the American economy – employing half the workforce, creating about 60 percent of net new American jobs, and often being the source of the next great American innovation.

Small businesses were disproportionately impacted by the Great Recession, losing 40 percent more jobs than the rest of the private sector combined. When the President took office, small business credit markets were effectively frozen. Today, trends are moving in the right direction. For 15 straight quarters, small firms have contributed to employment growth. According to a recent survey, more than a quarter of small business owners are planning capital investments, the second highest such reading since 2008.

Small business capital access has been an area of focus for this Administration, starting with the Recovery Act in 2009 and continuing with the Small Business Jobs Act in 2010 and the JOBS Act in 2012. Collectively, this legislation has been instrumental in driving improvement from the depths of the recession. The Administration has achieved record SBA small business lending volumes and recent Federal Reserve Small Business surveys indicate improved access to financing. Yet, more can be done. Too many small businesses still struggle to access the capital they need:

  • A 2014 Pepperdine and Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp study reported that 66 percent of small businesses found it “difficult to raise new business financing.”
  • Regional survey data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that 40 percent of the roughly one-third of small businesses that applied for credit in late 2013 received either none or less than the amount they requested. And another fifth of small businesses didn’t even apply for credit, because they assumed the process was too difficult, or they would not qualify.
  • Capital access challenges are magnified by the fact that small businesses are waiting longer to get paid for their products and services. The amount of time it took a corporation to pay an invoice increased from an average of 35 days in March 2009 to 46 days in July 2014, according to the Georgia Tech Financial Analysis Lab. Extended payment terms mean small businesses are spending unnecessary funds to cover cash flow. These are funds that could be otherwise spent on growing their business and creating new jobs.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 16, 2014

Statement by the President on the Death of Abdul-Rahman Kassig

Today we offer our prayers and condolences to the parents and family of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known to us as Peter.  We cannot begin to imagine their anguish at this painful time.

Abdul-Rahman was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity.  Like Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff before him, his life and deeds stand in stark contrast to everything that ISIL represents.  While ISIL revels in the slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent only on sowing death and destruction, Abdul-Rahman was a humanitarian who worked to save the lives of Syrians injured and dispossessed by the Syrian conflict.  While ISIL exploits the tragedy in Syria to advance their own selfish aims, Abdul-Rahman was so moved by the anguish and suffering of Syrian civilians that he traveled to Lebanon to work in a hospital treating refugees.  Later, he established an aid group, SERA, to provide assistance to Syrian refugees and displaced persons in Lebanon and Syria.  These were the selfless acts of an individual who cared deeply about the plight of the Syrian people.  

ISIL's actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith which Abdul-Rahman adopted as his own.  Today we grieve together, yet we also recall that the indomitable spirit of goodness and perseverance that burned so brightly in Abdul-Rahman Kassig, and which binds humanity together, ultimately is the light that will prevail over the darkness of ISIL.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 16, 2014

FACT SHEET: The G-20 Brisbane Summit

The G-20 is the world’s premier forum for economic policy cooperation – where Leaders representing economies generating 85 percent of global GDP assemble around the table to promote strong, sustainable and balanced growth and to address urgent global economic challenges.

The Brisbane G-20 Summit – the eighth that President Obama has attended since taking office – focused on growth and jobs.  With the global economic recovery still fragile, G-20 Leaders sent a clear signal of their commitment to take decisive steps, recognizing that the global economy is being held back by a shortfall in demand.  G-20 Leaders announced a Brisbane Action Plan of individual country commitments and collective actions that could increase the G-20’s combined output by 2.1 percent or more over the next five years.

Leaders agreed on a number of specific steps to strengthen the resilience of the global economy and to address challenges such as climate change.  These include new initiatives on infrastructure investment, female labor force participation, combating corruption, and remittances.  Leaders also issued a separate statement about Ebola and global health security. 

Among the most significant agreements were:

  • launching the Global Infrastructure Initiative to unlock private financing for infrastructure investment worldwide, including the creation of a Global Infrastructure Hub to support best practices and coordination;
  • a commitment by each country to close the gap between its male and female labor-force participation rates by 25% by 2025; this will bring an estimated 100 million additional women into the labor force by that year;
  • principles that would help prevent the abuse of anonymous shell companies to facilitate illicit financial flows stemming from corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering
  • a commitment 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.  G-20 leaders also stressed the importance of climate finance, including additional contributions to the Green Climate Fund following the United States’ $3 billion commitment to the GCF;
  • an Energy Efficiency Action Plan that includes, among other initiatives, a program to increase fuel quality and reduce carbon emissions by heavy-duty vehicles;
  • advancing the implementation of the international financial reform agenda;
  • agreement to complete by the end of 2015 an implementation plan on combating tax avoidance by multinational companies; and
  • agreement on principles on energy markets that could serve as the basis for ongoing discussions on reform of the international energy architecture.

Building a Stronger Global Economy through Jobs and Growth

The United States is a major source of strength in the global economy, with 56 straight months of private sector job growth creating 10.6 million jobs.  The Administration’s comprehensive response to the economic crisis — including through macroeconomic and structural policies — has laid the foundation for growth in the United States.

The pace of global economic growth and job creation, however, has disappointed since the recovery from recession began in 2009.  Economic activity in advanced countries has been particularly weak, while growth in emerging markets is uneven.  As the G-20 Leaders acknowledged, there is a shortfall in global demand.

To help strengthen medium-term potential growth, G-20 Leaders endorsed the Brisbane Action Plan to boost collective G-20 growth by 2 percent or more over the next five years.  The Action Plan includes a U.S. Growth Strategy based on Administration priorities such as infrastructure investment, raising household income, increasing access to quality skills development, increasing trade, comprehensive immigration reform, and assisting working families.  The U.S. reform commitments were critical in allowing the G-20 to meet its 2 percent goal.

Increasing Infrastructure Investment

  • A key constraint to growth across the G-20 is inadequate infrastructure.  At the same time, infrastructure investment creates construction jobs and can provide a strong impetus to growth. This year, the G-20 launched a Global Infrastructure Initiative, paired with a new Global Infrastructure Hub that will be based here in Australia, to help tap into the large pool of potential private financing for infrastructure investment.
  • We’ve also made significant advances in expanding the amount of money that the World Bank and other multilateral development banks can deploy to emerging economies through more efficient use of their existing balance sheets.

Female Labor Force Participation

  • The G-20 made a new commitment to bring more women into the workforce and improve the quality of their jobs.  All G-20 countries committed to reduce the gap between the share of men and women in the workforce by 25 percent by 2025.  That would bring an additional 100 million women into the formal workforce and increase global GDP.

Fighting corruption

  • The G-20 has taken significant steps over the last four years to fight the scourge of corruption in our own countries and overseas.  In Brisbane, Leaders adopted a two-year plan to strengthen enforcement, enhance transparency, and facilitate the recovery of assets stolen by corrupt officials.  This includes meaningful steps to ensure that corrupt actors cannot exploit our financial and legal systems.  The G-20 also reached a significant agreement to end the abuse of anonymous shell companies by endorsing implementation of “Beneficial Ownership” principles.  The G-20 will work to ensure that corrupt actors can no longer use these shell companies to evade taxes or launder the proceeds of their crimes, and the Administration has proposed legislation to end the use of anonymous shell companies in the United States.

Remittances and Financial inclusion

  • G-20 leaders today agreed on a set of concrete steps that will reduce the cost of sending money home for people working overseas.  These remittances are a life-line for millions of people in the developing world and a critical source of development financing for emerging and developing economies.  This action plan will lower the cost of remittances to an average of 5 percent by increasing competition and expanding access to money transfer services, making the financial system more inclusive for billions of people and again demonstrating the G-20’s capacity to make the global economy work better for everyone.

Enhancing Energy Efficiency and Addressing Climate Change

G-20 leaders increased their commitment to energy and climate change through energy deliverables and a strong endorsement of the need for action to address climate change. Leaders agreed to:

  • Endorse a new set of Principles on Energy Collaboration that outline key elements for future G-20 energy and climate change work.  These principles can set the agenda for future discussions of how we should adapt the global energy architecture to reflect recent transformations in the world’s energy markets – including the energy revolution in the United States.
  • An Energy Efficiency Action Plan that will guide efficiency work in six important sectors.  Central to this Action Plan is an agreement to develop country-specific plans in 2015 to improve efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles – trucks, buses, and other large vehicles which account for as much as half of all vehicle emissions even though they represent only 10 percent of all vehicles.  Three quarters of these vehicles globally are sold in G-20 countries.  The plan will lead to cleaner fuel, lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions, and reduced public health costs.  The United States is a global leader in heavy-duty vehicles standards for tailpipe emissions, fuel quality and efficiency, as well as green freight programs. 
  • Reaffirm the G-20 commitment to rationalize and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.  The United States, China, and Germany have committed to undergo fossil fuel subsidy peer reviews, which can help countries assess their subsidies and provide recommendations for reform.  The European Union has also offered to participate as a reviewer.
  • Send a clear signal that G-20 Leaders support strong and effective action to address climate change by reaffirming their resolve to adopt a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force at the UN climate negotiations in Paris in 2015.  In order to accomplish this, G-20 Leaders committed to communicate their post-2020 domestic climate targets as soon as possible and preferably by early 2015.  They also stressed the importance of contributions to the Green Climate Fund, and the United States announced a $3 billion commitment to the GCF.

Ebola and Global Health Security

  • The G-20 also demonstrated its ability to respond to new and fast-breaking challenges to the global economy, such as the threat posed by the Ebola epidemic.  In a statement released yesterday, G-20 leaders called for faster action to end the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.  Participating countries also committed to take steps to build the capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to future outbreaks – before they become epidemics.  And to make sure these aren’t just idle promises, the G-20 will review progress in building that capacity in at a major international meeting next May.  These steps are consistent with the Global Health Security Agenda, which the United States helped launch in February and the President hosted for an event at the White House in September. 
  • For the three countries whose economies have been devastated by this epidemic, G-20 leaders also endorsed an IMF initiative to provide them with $300 million in low-cost or no-cost financing and debt relief.

Strengthening the Global Financial System and addressing tax evasion and avoidance

The G-20 came into being during the financial crisis, and repairing and strengthening the resilience of the global financial system has been one of the most important elements of our cooperation.  While there is critical work to be done, this year we are close to finalizing the majority of the work on new rules to strengthen the financial system, end too-big-too fail, and promote a level playing field around the world.

U.S. leadership has played a transformational role by engaging others in a “race to the top” to improve the quality of regulation and level the playing field across major and emerging financial centers.  The United States led the way in this area with our Dodd-Frank reforms.  Now the key is for all G-20 countries to implement these commitments.  After the damage wrought by the financial crisis, we owe it to our citizens to complete our work in creating a safer and more resilient financial system.

This year, the G-20 took significant steps forward to strengthening bank capital and liquidity by reducing leverage, addressing “too big to fail” by ensuring tax payers will not have to bear the costs of resolution for large financial institutions, committing to make the derivatives markets more transparent and safe, and addressing the systemic risks posed by shadow banking. 

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 16, 2014

G20 Leaders’ Communiqué

The statement below was released today by Australia in its capacity as host of the G20.

1. Raising global growth to deliver better living standards and quality jobs for people across the world is our highest priority.  We welcome stronger growth in some key economies.  But the global recovery is slow, uneven and not delivering the jobs needed.  The global economy is being held back by a shortfall in demand, while addressing supply constraints is key to lifting potential growth. Risks persist, including in financial markets and from geopolitical tensions.  We commit to work in partnership to lift growth, boost economic resilience and strengthen global institutions.

2. We are determined to overcome these challenges and step up our efforts to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth, and to create jobs.  We are implementing structural reforms to lift growth and private sector activity, recognising that well-functioning markets underpin prosperity.  We will ensure our macroeconomic policies are appropriate to support growth, strengthen demand and promote global rebalancing.  We will continue to implement fiscal strategies flexibly, taking into account near-term economic conditions, while putting debt as a share of GDP on a sustainable path.  Our monetary authorities have committed to support the recovery and address deflationary pressures when needed, consistent with their mandates. We will be mindful of the global impacts of our policies and cooperate to manage spillovers.  We stand ready to use all policy levers to underpin confidence and the recovery.

3. This year we set an ambitious goal to lift the G20’s GDP by at least an additional two per cent by 2018. Analysis by the IMF-OECD indicates that our commitments, if fully implemented, will deliver 2.1 per cent.  This will add more than US$2 trillion to the global economy and create millions of jobs.  Our measures to lift investment, increase trade and competition, and boost employment, along with our macroeconomic policies, will support development and inclusive growth, and help to reduce inequality and poverty.

4. Our actions to boost growth and create quality jobs are set out in the Brisbane Action Plan and in our comprehensive growth strategies.  We will monitor and hold each other to account for implementing our commitments, and actual progress towards our growth ambition, informed by analysis from international organisations.  We will ensure our growth strategies continue to deliver and will review progress at our next meeting.

Acting together to lift growth and create jobs

5. Tackling global investment and infrastructure shortfalls is crucial to lifting growth, job creation and productivity.  We endorse the Global Infrastructure Initiative, a multi-year work programme to lift quality public and private infrastructure investment.  Our growth strategies contain major investment initiatives, including actions to strengthen public investment and improve our domestic investment and financing climate, which is essential to attract new private sector finance for investment.  We have agreed on a set of voluntary leading practices to promote and prioritise quality investment, particularly in infrastructure.  To help match investors with projects, we will address data gaps and improve information on project pipelines.  We are working to facilitate long-term financing from institutional investors and to encourage market sources of finance, including transparent securitisation, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.  We will continue to work with multilateral development banks, and encourage national development banks, to optimise use of their balance sheets to provide additional lending and ensure our work on infrastructure benefits low-income countries.

6. To support implementation of the Initiative, we agree to establish a Global Infrastructure Hub with a four-year mandate.  The Hub will contribute to developing a knowledge-sharing platform and network between governments, the private sector, development banks and other international organisations.  The Hub will foster collaboration among these groups to improve the functioning and financing of infrastructure markets.

7. To strengthen infrastructure and attract more private sector investment in developing countries, we welcome the launch of the World Bank Group’s Global Infrastructure Facility, which will complement our work.  We support similar initiatives by other development banks and continued cooperation amongst them.

8. Trade and competition are powerful drivers of growth, increased living standards and job creation.  In today’s world we don’t just trade final products. We work together to make things by importing and exporting components and services.  We need policies that take full advantage of global value chains and encourage greater participation and value addition by developing countries. Our growth strategies include reforms to facilitate trade by lowering costs, streamlining customs procedures, reducing regulatory burdens and strengthening trade-enabling services.  We are promoting competition, entrepreneurship and innovation, including by lowering barriers to new business entrants and investment.  We reaffirm our longstanding standstill and rollback commitments to resist protectionism.

9. Our actions to increase investment, trade and competition will deliver quality jobs.  But we must do more to address unemployment, raise participation and create quality jobs.  We agree to the goal of reducing the gap in participation rates between men and women in our countries by 25 per cent by 2025, taking into account national circumstances, to bring more than 100 million women into the labour force, significantly increase global growth and reduce poverty and inequality.

10. We are strongly committed to reducing youth unemployment, which is unacceptably high, by acting to ensure young people are in education, training or employment.  Our Employment Plans include investments in apprenticeships, education and training, and incentives for hiring young people and encouraging entrepreneurship.  We remain focussed on addressing informality, as well as structural and long-term unemployment, by strengthening labour markets and having appropriate social protection systems. Improving workplace safety and health is a priority.  We ask our labour and employment ministers, supported by an Employment Working Group, to report to us in 2015.

11. We are committed to poverty eradication and development, and to ensure our actions contribute to inclusive and sustainable growth in low-income and developing countries.  We commit to take strong practical measures to reduce the global average cost of transferring remittances to five per cent and to enhance financial inclusion as a priority.  The G20 Food Security and Nutrition Framework will strengthen growth by lifting investment in food systems, raising productivity to expand food supply, and increasing incomes and quality jobs.  We support efforts in the United Nations to agree an ambitious post-2015 development agenda. The G20 will contribute by strengthening economic growth and resilience.

Building a stronger, more resilient global economy

12. Strengthening the resilience of the global economy and stability of the financial system are crucial to sustaining growth and development.  We have delivered key aspects of the core commitments we made in response to the financial crisis.  Our reforms to improve banks’ capital and liquidity positions and to make derivatives markets safer will reduce risks in the financial system.  We welcome the Financial Stability Board (FSB) proposal as set out in the Annex requiring global systemically important banks to hold additional loss absorbing capacity that would further protect taxpayers if these banks fail.  Progress has been made in delivering the shadow banking framework and we endorse an updated roadmap for further work.  We have agreed to measures to dampen risk channels between banks and non-banks.  But critical work remains to build a stronger, more resilient financial system.  The task now is to finalise remaining elements of our policy framework and fully implement agreed financial regulatory reforms, while remaining alert to new risks.  We call on regulatory authorities to make further concrete progress in swiftly implementing the agreed G20 derivatives reforms.  We encourage jurisdictions to defer to each other when it is justified, in line with the St Petersburg Declaration.  We welcome the FSB’s plans to report on the implementation and effects of these reforms, and the FSB’s future priorities.  We welcome the progress made to strengthen the orderliness and predictability of the sovereign debt restructuring process.

13. We are taking actions to ensure the fairness of the international tax system and to secure countries’ revenue bases.  Profits should be taxed where economic activities deriving the profits are performed and where value is created.  We welcome the significant progress on the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan to modernise international tax rules.  We are committed to finalising this work in 2015, including transparency of taxpayer-specific rulings found to constitute harmful tax practices.  We welcome progress being made on taxation of patent boxes. To prevent cross-border tax evasion, we endorse the global Common Reporting Standard for the automatic exchange of tax information (AEOI) on a reciprocal basis.  We will begin to exchange information automatically with each other and with other countries by 2017 or end-2018, subject to completing necessary legislative procedures.  We welcome financial centres’ commitments to do the same and call on all to join us. We welcome deeper engagement of developing countries in the BEPS project to address their concerns.  We will work with them to build their tax administration capacity and implement AEOI. We welcome further collaboration by our tax authorities on cross-border compliance activities.

14. We endorse the 2015-16 G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan that will support growth and resilience.  Our actions are building cooperation and networks, including to enhance mutual legal assistance, recovery of the proceeds of corruption and denial of safe haven to corrupt officials.  We commit to improve the transparency of the public and private sectors, and of beneficial ownership by implementing the G20 High-Level Principles on Beneficial Ownership Transparency.

Strengthening global institutions

15. The G20 must be at the forefront in helping to address key global economic challenges. Global economic institutions need to be effective and representative, and to reflect the changing world economy.  We welcome the increased representation of emerging economies on the FSB and other actions to maintain its effectiveness.  We are committed to maintaining a strong, quota-based and adequately resourced International Monetary Fund (IMF).  We reaffirm our commitment in St Petersburg and in this light we are deeply disappointed with the continued delay in progressing the IMF quota and governance reforms agreed in 2010 and the 15th General Review of Quotas, including a new quota formula.  The implementation of the 2010 reforms remains our highest priority for the IMF and we urge the United States to ratify them.  If this does not happen by year-end, we ask the IMF to build on its existing work and stand ready with options for next steps.

16. We need a strong trading system in an open global economy to drive growth and generate jobs.  To help business make best use of trade agreements, we will work to ensure our bilateral, regional and plurilateral agreements complement one another, are transparent and contribute to a stronger multilateral trading system under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.  These rules remain the backbone of the global trading system that has delivered economic prosperity. A robust and effective WTO that responds to current and future challenges is essential.  We welcome the breakthrough between the United States and India that will help the full and prompt implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and includes provisions on food security.  We commit to implement all elements of the Bali package and to swiftly define a WTO work programme on the remaining issues of the Doha Development Agenda to get negotiations back on track.  This will be important to restore trust and confidence in the multilateral trading system.  We agreed to discuss ways to make the system work better when we meet next year. We will continue to provide aid-for-trade to developing countries in need of assistance.

17. Increased collaboration on energy is a priority.  Global energy markets are undergoing significant transformation.  Strong and resilient energy markets are critical to economic growth.  Today we endorse the G20 Principles on Energy Collaboration.  We ask our energy ministers to meet and report to us in 2015 on options to take this work forward. Gas is an increasingly important energy source and we will work to improve the functioning of gas markets.

18. Improving energy efficiency is a cost-effective way to help address the rising demands of sustainable growth and development, as well as energy access and security.  It reduces costs for businesses and households. We have agreed an Action Plan for Voluntary Collaboration on Energy Efficiency, including new work on the efficiency and emissions performance of vehicles, particularly heavy duty vehicles; networked devices; buildings; industrial processes; and electricity generation; as well as work on financing for energy efficiency.  We reaffirm our commitment to rationalise and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption, recognising the need to support the poor.

19. We support strong and effective action to address climate change.  Consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its agreed outcomes, our actions will support sustainable development, economic growth, and certainty for business and investment.  We will work together to adopt successfully a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the UNFCCC that is applicable to all parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in 2015.  We encourage parties that are ready to communicate their intended nationally determined contributions well in advance of COP21 (by the first quarter of 2015 for those parties ready to do so).  We reaffirm our support for mobilising finance for adaptation and mitigation, such as the Green Climate Fund.

20. We are deeply concerned with the humanitarian and economic impact of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.  We support the urgent coordinated international response and have committed to do all we can to contain and respond to this crisis.  We call on international financial institutions to assist affected countries in dealing with the economic impacts of this and other humanitarian crises, including in the Middle East.

21. We remain resolute in our commitment to lift economic growth, support job creation, promote development and build global confidence.  We thank Australia for its leadership this year.  We look forward to working together in 2015 under Turkey’s presidency and to discussing progress at our next meeting in Antalya on 15-16 November 2015. We also look forward to meeting in China in 2016.

Annex

Agreed documents

The following documents agreed by the G20 support our communiqué:

  • Brisbane Action Plan, November 2014
  • G20 Note on the Global Infrastructure Initiative and Hub, November 2014
  • 2014 Financial Inclusion Action Plan, November 2014
  • G20 Plan to Facilitate Remittance Flows, November 2014
  • G20 Food Security and Nutrition Framework, November 2014
  • Development Working Group Accountability Framework, November 2014
  • 2015-16 G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan, November 2014
  • G20 High-Level Principles on Beneficial Ownership Transparency, November 2014
  • G20 Principles on Energy Collaboration, November 2014
  • G20 Energy Efficiency Action Plan, November 2014
  • The 2015 G20 Accountability Assessment Process, November 2014
  • 2014 Accountability Assessment Report, November 2014

Ministerial statements

  • Communiqué, Meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, Cairns, 20-21 September 2014
  • G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Declaration, Melbourne, 10-11 September 2014, including G20 Statement on Safer and Healthier Workplaces
  • Chairman’s Summary, Meeting of G20 Trade Ministers, Sydney, 29 July 2014
  • Communiqué, Meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, Washington DC, 10-11 April 2014
  • Communiqué, Meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, Sydney, 22-23 February 2014

Supporting documents

We welcome the delivery of the following documents:

  • G20 Members’ Comprehensive Growth Strategies, November 2014
  • G20 Members’ Country Employment Plans, November 2014
  • IMF Surveillance Note, November 2014
  • Quantifying the Impact of G-20 Members’ Growth Strategies, OECD/IMF report, November 2014
  • Growth Strategies: G20 Emerging Market Economies – World Bank Group Assessment, November 2014
  • Global Infrastructure Facility: Update for G20 Leaders, World Bank Group, November 2014
  • G20/OECD Report on Effective Approaches to Support Implementation of the G20/OECD High-Level Principles on Long-Term Investment Financing by Institutional Investors, and Annex, November 2014
  • Report on G20 Trade and Investment Measures, WTO, OECD, and UNCTAD, November 2014
  • G20 Labour Markets: Outlook, Key Challenges and Policy Responses, OECD, ILO and World Bank Group, November 2014
  • Opportunities for Economic Growth and Job Creation in Relation to Food Security and Nutrition, FAO and OECD (with inputs from ADB, IFAD, ILO, IFPRI and WTO), September 2014
  • Financial Reforms: Completing the Job and Looking Ahead, Financial Stability Board Chairman’s Letter to G20 Leaders, November 2014
  • Adequacy of loss-absorbing capacity of global systemically important banks in resolution, Financial Stability Board, November, 2014
  • Cross-Border Recognition of Resolution Action, Financial Stability Board, September 2014
  • Updated G20 Roadmap towards Strengthened Oversight and Regulation of Shadow Banking in 2015, Financial Stability Board, November 2014
  • Report to the G20 Brisbane Summit on the FSB’s review of the structure of its representation, Financial Stability Board, November 2014
  • OECD Secretary-General’s Report to G20 Leaders on Tax Matters, November 2014
  • International Organisations’ proposal for structured dialogue process with developing countries on tax matters, November 2014

These documents are in addition to those delivered to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, Labour and Employment Ministers, and Trade Ministers at their meetings this year.

G20 Working Group reports

  • G20 2014 Brisbane Anti-Corruption Update
  • 2014 Brisbane Development Update
  • G20 Energy Sustainability Working Group 2014 Co-chairs’ Report
  • G20 Climate Finance Study Group – Report to Ministers, 2014

Issues for further action

  • The FSB proposal for an internationally agreed standard requiring global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) to hold additional loss absorbing capacity in resolution will be subject to public consultation, a rigorous quantitative impact assessment and further refinement before any final measure is agreed by the 2015 Summit.  The impact analyses will include consideration of the consequences of this requirement on banks in emerging markets, G-SIBs headquartered in EMEs, and state-owned banks.
  • Given the challenges litigation poses and in order to strengthen the orderliness and predictability of the sovereign debt restructuring process, we welcome the international work on strengthened collective action and pari passu clauses.  We call for their inclusion in international sovereign bonds and encourage the international community and private sector to actively promote their use.  We ask our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to discuss the progress achieved on this and related issues.
  • If the US does not ratify the 2010 IMF reforms by end-2014, we ask the IMF to discuss options for next steps shortly thereafter and we ask our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to work with the IMFC to schedule a discussion on these options in their next meeting.

Acknowledgements

We thank international organisations, including the IMF, OECD, World Bank Group, WTO, ILO, FSB and UN, for their reports and recommendations, which have provided valuable inputs to G20 discussions.  These can be found at http://www.g20.org/official_resources.  We thank the Business 20, Civil Society 20, Labour 20, Think 20 and Youth 20 for their important contribution to the G20’s work.

 

###

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 16, 2014

Statement on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

We, the Leaders of the United States and the European Union, and the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain meeting in the margin of the G-20 Summit reaffirm our commitment to comprehensive and ambitious negotiations, in a spirit of mutual benefit, leading to a high standard Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement.

We remain committed, as we were when we launched these negotiations in June 2013, to build upon the strong foundation of our six decades of economic partnership to promote stronger, sustainable and balanced growth, to support the creation of more jobs on both sides of the Atlantic and to increase our international competitiveness.

Underlining the strategic importance of this agreement, we see it as an opportunity to promote the principles and values that we, as citizens of open economies and societies, share and cherish, including transparency and joint approaches to global trade challenges.

We commend the work of the negotiators over the last 16 months, and direct them to make all possible progress over the coming year.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 15, 2014

United States and Japan Announce $4.5 Billion in Pledges to Green Climate Fund (GCF)

Making good on our commitment to support efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience worldwide, the United States and Japan announced a total of up to $4.5 billion in pledges to the Green Climate Fund (GCF).  This includes up to $3 billion from the United States and up to $1.5 billion from Japan, subject to respective domestic procedures and based on strong contributions from other donors.  Our pledges build on those already announced by Germany, France, and other donors, which include developed and developing countries.

Our pledges will be reiterated at the GCF’s pledging session on November 20 in Berlin, Germany, where additional countries are expected to announce pledges.  By announcing significant pledges promptly and at the leader level, we aim to provide great momentum to the ongoing climate change negotiations toward a post-2020 agreement that is applicable to all, in which countries make ambitious and transparent commitments to reduce their emissions.

Today’s announcement builds on a history of collective leadership by the United States, Japan, and other countries to support resilient and low-carbon development around the world.  In 2008, our countries jointly spearheaded the establishment of the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs).  Our pledges to the GCF are a continuation of that spirit of leadership.  The GCF will mobilize investment from the private sector, whose resources and expertise will be essential to meet the climate challenge.

We encourage all countries that are able to join us in pledging to the GCF.  We will continue working with our partners on the GCF Board and other stakeholders to make the GCF fully operational and ensure that it is an efficient and effective channel for climate finance.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 15, 2014

Australia-Japan-United States Trilateral Leaders Meeting Joint Media Release

Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, and President Barack Obama of the United States met in Brisbane, Australia on 16 November 2014 in the margins of the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

The leaders expressed their commitment to deepening the trilateral partnership among Australia, Japan and the United States to ensure a peaceful, stable, and prosperous future for the Asia-Pacific region. They noted that this partnership rests on the unshakable foundation of shared interests and values, including a commitment to democracy and open economies, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.

The three leaders reaffirmed the global reach of their cooperation and the value of comprehensive US engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. They resolved to tackle pressing issues such as: degrading and ultimately defeating the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and countering the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters; ending the deadly Ebola virus disease epidemic in West Africa; and opposing Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea and its actions to destabilize eastern Ukraine, and bringing to justice those responsible for the downing of Flight MH17. The three leaders also underscored the strength of their regional cooperation, including eliminating the North Korean nuclear and missile threat; addressing human rights in North Korea including the abductions issue; and ensuring freedom of navigation and over-flight and the peaceful resolution of maritime disputes in accordance with international law, including through legal mechanisms such as arbitration.

The leaders expressed their firm commitment to deepen the already strong security and defense cooperation among the three countries and to strengthen the collective ability to address global concerns and promote regional stability through enhanced cooperation on: trilateral exercises; maritime security capacity building and maritime domain awareness; peacekeeping capacity building, particularly in the area of prevention of violence against women; increasing development assistance coordination throughout the region; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; cyber capacity building; and defense equipment and technology. They welcomed work being done to this end and directed their governments to expand trilateral cooperation in all of these areas.

The leaders resolved to continue to work together and with our partners in the region to promote strong sustainable growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific, including through cooperation in the G20, APEC, EAS and other regional forums to promote sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth and prosperity, free trade and investment, including in infrastructure development and energy efficiency.

The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release
November 15, 2014

Readout of the Vice President's Central America Events Today

Vice President Biden delivered remarks today at the Inter-American Development Bank Conference, “Investing in Central America: Unlocking Opportunities for Development.”  The Vice President emphasized the Obama Administration’s ongoing commitment to working with Central American countries to help create the economic, social, governance and citizen security conditions to address factors contributing to increases in migration.  The Vice President outlined U.S. support for the Alliance for Prosperity in Central America launched by the Presidents of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.  The Vice President described the U.S. approach as working to promote an economically-integrated Central America that is secure, democratic, and middle-class. 

In his remarks, the Vice President underscored the Administration’s commitment to seek significant increases in foreign assistance to support the Alliance for Prosperity, and called on the international community and the private sector to support the plan.  The Vice President noted that “urgent challenges demand urgent action backed by political will and political courage.”  He also announced that in December the United States would establish an in-country refugee/parole program in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, to allow certain parents who are lawfully present in the United States to request access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for their children still in one of these three countries.  The Vice President also used his remarks to reiterate President Obama’s commitment to fix our broken immigration system in a way that strengthens our borders, streamlines our immigration system, and attracts the best and brightest from around the world. 

Following his remarks, the Vice President hosted a working lunch at the Blair House for Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, and El Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren.  The Vice President and his guests used the lunch to review joint efforts to address the migration of unaccompanied minors and adults with children migrating to the United States, as well as to agree on an approach for sustained high-level engagement and coordination to implement the Alliance for Prosperity in Central America.  The Vice President praised the leadership of the three presidents in targeting smuggling networks and tackling corruption, as well as their long-term commitment to addressing the region’s challenges to development.  The Central American presidents reaffirmed their commitment to working in partnership with the United States and agreed to regular and active engagement to address the underlying factors contributing to increased migration and advance a regional solution that provides greater economic opportunities for Central America, with strong democratic institutions, with more accountable, transparent, and effective public institutions, and where citizens feel safe and can build their lives in peace and stability.  The Vice President was accompanied at the lunch by representatives from the National Security Council Staff, the Department of State, and the United States Agency for International Development.   

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 15, 2014

FACT SHEET: United States Support for Global Efforts to Combat Carbon Pollution and Build Resilience

Today, President Obama is announcing the intention of the United States to contribute $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), reflecting the U.S. commitment to reduce carbon pollution and strengthen resilience in developing countries, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. The United States joins other nations that have already pledged financial support to this vital new global effort, including Mexico, Korea, Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland.  Additional countries are expected to pledge soon. 

By financing investments that help countries reduce carbon pollution and strengthen resilience to climate change, the GCF will help leverage public and private finance to avoid some of the most catastrophic risks of climate change.  By reducing those risks, the GCF will help promote smart, sustainable long-term economic growth and preserve stability and security in fragile regions of strategic importance to the United States.

The U.S. contribution to the GCF builds on a history of U.S. leadership to support climate action.  In 2008, the Bush Administration pledged $2 billion to the Climate Investment Funds, which were established as a transitional measure to finance efforts to help developing countries address climate change.  The U.S. pledge to the GCF demonstrates a continuation of the bipartisan resolve to help developing nations reduce their own emissions, whose dangerous impacts on the climate affect us all, as well as to help the most vulnerable cope with the impacts of climate change.  The GCF will also help spur global markets in clean energy technologies, creating opportunities for U.S. entrepreneurs and manufacturers who are leading the way to a low-carbon future.

The GCF was originally called for in 2009 in the Copenhagen Accord, in which developing countries first committed to taking action to mitigate their carbon emissions, including by laying out specific goals and targets.  The GCF will employ world-class safeguards and will finance projects and programs with the greatest potential to reduce harmful pollution and foster adaptation to climate impacts.  Although the political impetus to establish the GCF came from the multilateral climate negotiations, the GCF is an independent legal entity that makes independent funding and operational decisions.  It is not a United Nations agency or entity, nor will it have a large bureaucracy.   

The United States intends to contribute $3 billion to this initial fund raising effort, not to exceed 30 percent of total confirmed pledges.  This share is consistent with the U.S. contribution to other funds in which we have exercised U.S. leadership to catalyze other contributions.  We expect that the U.S. share will decline over time as the range of countries contributing to the GCF expands.  While the United States is committed to supporting a wide range of mitigation and adaptation programs in developing countries through the GCF, we will target a significant portion of our GCF support to the GCF’s Private Sector Facility.  This is in recognition of the essential role the GCF must play in mobilizing private sector financing to scale up low-emission and climate-resilient investment in developing countries. 

The United States expects that the GCF will become a preeminent, effective, and efficient channel for climate finance and is working to finalize the GCF’s governance and institutional policies in 2015.  In this regard, the United States reserves the ability to direct a portion of this pledge to other multilateral climate funds to the extent necessary based on the pace of progress.

Some of the innovative features of the GCF include:

  • A dedicated Private Sector Facility.  Unlike most climate funds, the GCF will have a dedicated Private Sector Facility to support entrepreneurs developing low-carbon and climate resilient projects.  It will also mobilize capital from private investors around the world.  The Board is also advised by a standing Private Sector Advisory Group, composed of business leaders from developed and developing countries.
  • Inclusive governance and wider donor base.  The GCF’s governance structure—headed by a 24-member Board with an equal number of developed and developing countries—gives it a uniquely high level of international buy-in and collaboration, with a corresponding ability to attract non-traditional donors. 
  • World-class safeguards and accountability mechanisms. The GCF will require among the strongest fiduciary standards and social and environmental safeguards for all multilateral funds in climate finance today.  This will help promote GCF-financed projects and programs that are responsibly designed and implemented, and that all financial resources are managed prudently and transparently.  Moreover, the GCF has an Independent Evaluation Unit, which evaluates the impact of GCF programs and projects, as well as an Independent Integrity Unit, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing or prohibited practices.  Both units will report to the Board, not the Secretariat.   The Board itself makes independent funding and operational decisions.
  • Work in both mitigation and adaptation.  The GCF will balance its support for emissions mitigation and climate adaptation and resilience activities, building up expertise in both areas and positioning itself to capitalize on synergies between them.  This balance will make the GCF unique compared with other funds.
  • Global reach.   The GCF will work through a larger network of public and private partners than most other climate funds.  This will help reach more regions and communities, as well as unlock opportunities in both adaptation and mitigation in hard-to-reach locations. 

###