Brief Report of the C20 Hand Over Event
And Strategy Meeting on C20 Continuity
Japan's presidency of G20, which started from December 1 of 2018, officially ends on November 30 of 2019. To align with the schedule, C20 (Civil 20) Hand Over Event was held in Tokyo on November 18 inviting civil society representatives from G20 hosting countries between 2018 and 2022, including Saudi Arabia. This shows the brief summary of the event by Japan C20 2019 and the strategy meeting for C20 continuity held in the margin of the event.
1. Background of the Hand Over Event
The schedule of G20 was rather unique in Japan; the leaders’ summit was held in June, much earlier than the past G20s, and ministerial meetings were held from May to November 2019. Many of the Summits of G20 Engagement Groups including C20 were held betweenMarch and May, except for L20 Summit, which was held in July. Unlike G20 Argentina in 2018, where hand over event was held on December 3 along with the G20 Leaders Summit 2018, Japanese C20 hand over event was held independently from the other G20 events in the end of the term of Japan's presidency.
Antoher highlight is that the hand over event became the first case after the C20 Guiding Principle was approved by C20 International Advisory Committee and Steering Committee in C20 Tokyo Summit in June. It clearly showed the core value of C20, including global character, transparency, independence, inclusiveness, continuity and predictability. These core values added C20 continuity with more important role for the future.
Japan C20 Presidency hosted the C20 2019 Hand Over Event inviting 5 G20 hosting country civil society representatives from 2018 to 2022, including representatives of civil society of Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Italy and India, as well as the leaders of global and regional civil society networks related to SDGs.
2. Summary of the Hand Over Event
The Event was held in the Sacred Heart Global Plaza, Tokyo from 1 pm to 5 pm of November 18th. Moderators were Ms. Tomoko Hoshino, the Japan Coordinator of C20 Environment Working Group,
and Mr. Aoi Horiuchi, C20 Sous-Sherpa.
(1) Part 1: Reviewing the G20 and C20
The first part reviewed the G20 Summit and the role of C20 itself. Ms. Yuka Iwatsuki, the Chair of C20 2019, made an opening remarks appreciating all the participants of the process of C20 2019. Then, Mr. Keisuke Suzuki, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, made his remark as a response from the government representative of G20 hosting country, Japan. A panel discussion, Mr. Suzuki, Ms. Iwatsuki, former C20 Sherpa Maria Emilia Berazategui of Transparency International, and Mr. Kenji Kanasugi, current G20 Sherpa representing Japan, was followed. In the session, Mr. Kanasugi summarized the outcomes of G20 including Osaka Track on data governance. Mr. Suzuki emphasized the necessity of C20 to expand its role and increase its capacity. Ms. Iwatsuki defined the role of C20 as (a) a facilitator of a dialogue, (b) securer of civil society space, (c) advocates to pursue government’(s accountability. Ms. Berazategui emphasized the importance of meaningful participation of civil society for G20 process.
(2) Part 2: Evaluating Thematic Issues of G20 and C20
There were 4 agenda-based plenary sessions attended by each Working Group Coordinator. The first session was on social development agenda including education, health and gender; Ms. Naoko Shiroya of Education Working Group (WG), Mr. Masaki Inaba of Global Health WG, and Ms. Asami Kamiya of Gender WG presented the outcomes and remained challenges of each issue.
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Second Session was on environment, climate and infrastructure; Ms. Tomoko Hoshino of Environment WG, Ms. Kimiko Hirata of Climate Sub-Group, and Mr. Yuki Tanabe of Infrastructure WG presented the outcomes and challenges of G20, including marine plastic waste issues.
Third Session was on digital economy, trade and investment, and international financial architecture; Mr. Masaki Inaba and Ms. Shoko Uchida, a leading coordinator of the Trade and Investment WG and Digital Economy WG, and Mr. Hiroo Aoba, Int'l Financial Architecture WG spoke about the outcomes of the C20 and remained challenges. The C20 WGs on Trade and Investment, as well as Digital Economy were newly developed in the C20 2019 process responding to the intention of the Government of Japan that was eagerto mainstream these issues, especially "Data Governance". They expressed their will to continue advocacy on this issue for further G20 process in the future.
Forth Session was on Anti-Corruption, shrinking civic spaces, Labour, business and Human rights; Ms. Maria Emilia Berazategui of Anti-Corruption WG, Ms. Juliana Catania of Local to Global WG, Mr. Hideki Wakabayashi of Labor, Business and Human Rights WG were presentaters of this session. Additionally, Mr. Katsuhito Okubo, representing Japanese youth movement for sustainability, made a speech on the participation of youth in G20 process.
(3) Part 3: Continuity of C20 for the Future
The last part of the event was concluded with the civil society representatives of 5 hosting countries of G20 from 2018 to 2022, Argentina, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Italy and India. Before the discussion, two speakers made speeches; the first speaker, Ms. Maria Emilia Berazategui, former Sherpa for C20 Argentina Summit 2018 and a Steering Committee member of C20 Tokyo Summit 2019, highlited the C20 Guiding Principle, which was approved in C20 Summit in Tokyo. Secondly, Her Highness Princess Nouf bint Muhammad bin Abdullah al Saud, the Chair of C20 Summit Saudi Arabia 2020, announced the schedule of the C20 and G20 Summits 2020. According to her presentation, C20 Kick Off Event will be held in mid-January, Face to Face Meeting in March, C20 in October and G20 Summit will be held in November.
Following these two presentations, panel discussion of the continuity of C20 followed; Ms. Juliana Catania of Argentina, Masaki Inaba of Japan, Princess Nouf Muhammad of Saudi Arabia, Riccardo Moro and Stefania Burbo of Italy, and finally Harsh Jaitli of India, participated in the discussion as panellists to represent civil society of each hosting country of G20 between 2018 and 22. The representatives of Argentina and Japan spoke about the outcomes and challenges of their C20 process, and the representatives of Saudi Arabia, Italy and India spoke about their expectation and concerns on G20, as well as their plans for C20 and G20 advocacy.
After the panel discussion, Mr. Anselmo Lee from South Korea made a speech on how to align civil society advocacy to C20 and SDGs. Ms. Kazumi Yamaguchi, representing Japan Youth Platform for Sustainability (JYPS), made a speech on how to ensure meaningful participation of youths in G20/C20. After a short session of questions and answers where human rights issues of the G20 hosting countries were raised, Ms. Atsuko Miwa, the Co-Chair of C20 2019 Japan, closed the event with short remarks, mentioning the importance of continuity of C20 and G20 advocacy with the principles of accountability, peace and participation with leaving no one behind.
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3. Strategy Meetings on Continuity of C20
On the margins of the Hand Over Event, Strategy Meeting on Continuity of C20 was held in the morning of November 18 and 19, with the attendance of each representative of C20 hosting countries and the Japanese coordinators of C20 Working Groups. The Round 1 (morning of 18th November) discussed the two themes; (a) Plans of C20 2020 in Saudi Arabia, (b) continuity of C20 thematic working groups. In the Round 2 (morning of 19th November), the participants shared the updated information on the situation around G20 in Italy, which hosts G20 2021, and India, which hosts G20 2022.
4. Further Process for Saudi Arabian C20 Summit 2020
G20 Presidency will be handed over from Japan to Saudi Arabia on December 1. Saudi Arabian Presidency will announce its priority area and G20 schedule around the date. The Schedule of key dates around G20 Engagement Groups, including C20, will also be announced. So the C20 hand over process from Japan to Saudi Arabia will be accelerated in the final week of November and early December.
The host of C20 2020 process is King Khalid Foundation (KKF). The Chair of C20 is Her Highness Princess Nouf bint Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Saud, and Sherpa is co-served by Ms. Rahaf al Sanosi and Mr. Osamah al Henaki, both from KKF. They clearly expressed their will to respect the C20 Guiding Principle and keep the structure of International Advisory Committee and Steering Committee, and the 11 C20 Thematic Working Groups in the next C20 Summit. KKF leads the process of nomination of C20 IAC/SC members and international coordinators of C20 Working Groups with sufficient consideration on the structure and leadership of current C20 leadership.
C20 Saudi Arabia 2020 is still working on inviting a Steering Committee that represents past and future C20 presidencies with leaders from C20 Australia, C20 Argentina, C20 Germany, and C20 Japan while also having members from upcoming C20 Italy and C20 India together with two Saudi CSOs representing different regions. This composition is meant to ensure continuity, inclusiveness, and representativeness of the global C20 network.
As our Saudi colleagues start assuming their responsibilities as the 2020 C20 host, carrying its legacy and positive impact forward; they strongly commit to serving the global civil society community in upholding the C20 Principles and demanding proper access and influence of C20 working groups to all G20 government discussions. They commit to advocating for the C20 positions to be presented, heard, and adopted at every Sherpa meeting, every ministerial meeting, every working group meeting, and maintaining C20’s continuous presence at the International Media Centre during the Leaders’ Summit.