Press Releases
T20 (Think 20) Summit 2019
and Reception hosted by Mr. Tsuji Kiyoto, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs
On May 26 and 27, the summit of the T20 (Think 20), which is one of the Engagement Groups of the G20, was held in Tokyo. On the evening of May 26, Mr. Kiyoto Tsuji, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs hosted a welcome reception.
1. The 1st day (May 26）
(1) After the opening remarks by Amb. Kenichiro Sasae, President of the Japan Institute of International Affairs, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, in his video message extended his best wishes for the success of the conference and showed his expectation that a clear path towards resolution of the challenges the world faces would be presented from new perspectives through vibrant discussions.
(2) Then, Amb. Koji Tomita, Representative of the Government of Japan for the G20 Summit delivered a special speech. Amb. Amina Mohamed, Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and Heritage of the Republic of Kenya also gave a keynote speech.
2. Reception hosted by Mr. Kiyoto Tsuji, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs（May 26）
On the evening of May 26, Mr. Kiyoto Tsuji, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, hosted a welcome reception. More than 200 think tank scholars and experts attended. In his remarks, Mr. Tsuji spoke as follows;
(1) The T20 Summit is an important platform where participants bring together their ideas and actually put them into practice with regard to a variety of policy issues for the G20 Summit.
(2) As uncertainty increases in the world, wisdom and cooperation from non-governmental stakeholders including think tankers are indispensable for Japan to take the leadership as the G20 chair.
(3) I will consider how I can utilize the policy recommendations for discussions at the upcoming G20 Summit and future policy planning.
3. The 2nd day（May 27）
(1) After the welcome remarks by Mr. Hiroshi Watanabe, President of the Institute for International Monetary Affairs, and the special speech by Mr. Masatsugu Asakawa, Vice Minister of Finance of Japan for international affairs, Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan, delivered a keynote speech. He explained the recent development in the global economy as well as various issues and expressed his wish that the T20 Summit would prompt further collaboration between the private and public sectors.
(2) Dr. Robert Engle, Professor of New York University, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, also gave a keynote speech. He presented his study on social costs of climate change and its solutions from an economic point of view.
(3) At the closing session, Mr. Taro Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs, received the T20 communique (policy recommendations)
from the T20 representatives and delivered remarks as follows;
(ⅰ) “A sustainable, inclusive and resilient society” is this year’s theme of the T20. How to achieve it is a big question. I appreciate the discussion of this two-day T20 Summit on various issues including the WTO reform, innovation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), and quality infrastructure.
(ⅱ) While the existing liberal international order is under challenge, we have to stand united in order to preserve democracy, the rule of law and so on. I will bring the recommendations to the G20 Osaka summit and the SDGs Summit to be held in this September.
(4) In the end, closing remarks were given by Dr. Naoyuki Yoshino, Dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute and by Dr. Fahad Alturki, Vice President of Research of King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center of Saudi Arabia, which will be the next T20 chair country.
4. During this two-day meeting, domestic and foreign think tank scholars and experts had active discussions on 10 policy themes related to the principal agenda of the G20 Osaka Summit.
[Reference] What is the T20 (Think 20)
1. T20(Think20) is one of the Engagement Groups of the G20 (The Engagement Groups are independent from the governments and set up by its own agenda and function). The T20 is positioned as "the idea bank" of the G20 and consists of think tanks scholars and experts from G20 countries. Throughout the year, it continues discussions under its 10 task forces (TF) and comes up with policy recommendations to submit to the upcoming G20.
2. The T20 has been held at G20 host countries since 2012, and this is 8th time. T20 in 2018 was held in the Argentine Republic. H.E. Mr. Mauricio MACRI, President of the Argentine Republic attended.
3. Prior to the T20 Summit, T20 Japan 2019 Inception Conference was held on December 4 and 5 2018 in Tokyo, just after Japan took over the G20 presidency.
4. T20 in Japan are co-chaired by the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Japan Institute of International Affairs, and the Institute for International Monetary Affairs. The Task Forces’ themes are:（1）2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,（2）International Financial Architecture for Stability and Development/Crypto-asset and FinTech,（3）Climate Change and Environment,（4）Economic Effects of Infrastructure Investment and its Financing,（5）Cooperation with Africa,（6）Social Cohesion, Global Governance and the Future of Politics,（7）The Future of Work and Education for the Digital Age,（8）Trade, Investment and Globalization,（9）SME Policy faced with Development of Financial Technology,（10）Aging Population and its Economic Impact + Immigration.
5. Website of the T20(Think 20) in Japan is below;