C20 representing the views of national and international civil society within the G20, organized several meetings under “C20 Regional Consultation Forum” on 29-30 June 2015 in Brussels. Under the leadership of IKV Vice-President and C20 Chairperson Zeynep Bodur Okyay was organized this C20 Regional Consultation Forum where more than 60 civil societies and organizations from C20 member countries and European based civil society organizations participated. This is the first time a C20 Regional Consultation Forum was organized outside the host country.

Meetings organized under the inclusive and sustainability themes on 29 June was opened with the speech delivered by the C20 Turkey Steering Committee’s Chair and IKV’s Vice President Zeynep Bodur Okyay. In her opening speech, Okyay informed the participants about the latest developments and works carried out under C20 Turkey. Within the framework of the C20 Regional Consultation Forum, C20 Turkey Chairperson Zeynep Bodur Okyay called for the European civil society to participate to C20 process.  Okyay also emphasized the importance of the C20 in terms of enhancing the voice of low-income developing countries (LIDCs). In her final remarks, President Zeynep Bodur Okyay shared the details about the C20 Turkey Summit which will be taken place in Istanbul at Bosphorus University on 15-16 September 2015.

Following the opening speech, IKV’s Brussels Representative M. Haluk Nuray gave information about the working program of the C20 Regional Consultation Forum. Following his speech, working sessions for four Working Groups including the priorities of C20 - inclusive growth, sustainability, gender equality and governance (fight against poverty and tax justice) - were organized. During the first phase of the Working Group sessions, draft recommendations made by representatives from 42 different civil society organizations in cooperation with the civil society of G20 Members countries were also discussed with European civil society. In the second phase of the Working Group sessions, representatives from European civil society made further recommendations on the draft documents. As it is well known, the priorities of C20 Turkey were prepared following the results obtained from the survey carried out during 7 weeks to which 388 organizations and 1169 participants from 90 countries participated.

Following the working sessions held simultaneously, during the closure session, all the views and recommendations exchanged during the meetings by the representatives of European based civil society organization were shared to the audience. This enabled to establish sustainable consultation platforms between the working groups and the European based stakeholders. Lastly, during the closure session, it has been discussed about the roadmap to follow within the C20 process during Turkey’s G20 Presidency and about the measures to take to ensure the sustainability of the C20 priorities. Also the digital library prepared by C20 Turkey that gathers all the official documents of the G20 and policy studies published since 2008 has been presented to the audience. This digital library will be handover to China which will take over the next G20 Presidency.

During the second part of the activities carried out on 29 June 2015, following the meeting held by the President of the European Economic and Social Committee Henri Malosse, C20 Chairperson and IKV Vice-President Zeynep Bodur Okyay, IKV Secretary-General and President of C20 Turkey Inclusive Growth Working Group Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas, IKV Brussels Representative Haluk Nuray, C20 Turkey Sherpa and IKV Deputy Secretary-General Melih Özsöz, Presidents of C20 Turkey Working Group Oya Özarslan and Leyla Ateş, President of C20 Turkey Gender Equality Working Group Şengül Akçar, President of C20 Turkey Sustainable Development Working Group Didem Rastgeldi, Member of C20 Turkey Secretariat Oxfam Turkey Director Meryem Aslan, Josephine Whitetaker-Yılmaz and Ayşegül Ekmekci, IKV Junior Researchers Büşra Çatır and Mehmet Poyrazlı met Permanent Representative of Turkey to EU His Excellency Ambassador Selim Yenel.

C20 Turkey Delegation Came Together with the Representatives of the European Institutions

Under the lidership of IKV Vice-President and C20 Chairperson Zeynep Bodur Okyay, C20 Turkey Delegation and representatives of the European Parliament met on 30 June 2015 during breakfast working meeting. Member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Richard Howitt, Member of the cabinet of the European Commission’s Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, Tayana Panova and European Commission’s Head of Turkey Unit Patrick Paquet attended also to this meeting organized by IKV and Friends of Turkey in the European Parliament.

In the opening speech of the meeting, IKV Vice-President and C20 Chairperson Zeynep Bodur Okyay gave detailed information on the works carried out by C20 which is representing the civil society organizations within Turkey’s G20 Presidency. She explained that the priority areas of the C20 set in accordance with the goal of Turkey’s G20 Presidency have been determined by the civil society organizations from Turkey and from all around the world. She also stressed the importance for Turkey to leave a permanent contribution to C20 process. She pointed out that it is the first time under Turkey’s G20 Presidency that the gender equality has been a topic tackled separately. Following the opening speech delivered by IKV Vice-President and C20 Chairperson Zeynep Bodur Okyay, Presidents of C20 Turkey’s four Working Groups informed the audience about the works carried out during Turkey’s G20 Presidency and the policy recommendations that will be presented to G20 leaders.

Following the speeches from the C20 Turkey Delegation, Member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Richard Howitt thanked the representatives of the C20 Turkey for organizing a C20 Regional Consultation Forum in Brussels and a meeting in the European Parliament. In his speech, Howitt emphasized that G20 constituted an important platform to find solution to global challenges. Within this framework, he explained that during Turkey’s G20 Presidency, C20 is playing a key role in finding solution to current and future challenges such as development, gender equality and climate change.

During the meeting, Member of the cabinet of the European Commission’s Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, Tayana Panova stated that the meeting held with the C20 Turkey Delegation enabled her to acquire a great deal of information on Turkey’s G20 Presidency.  She pointed out that in fact the priorities laid down by C20 Turkey and EU’s European Semester presented many common goals. She also stressed on the importance of encouraging cooperation in areas such as the fight against corruption and tax fraud in different platforms

In his speech, the European Commission’s Head of Turkey Unit Patrick Paquet explained that the voice of Turkish civil society has been better heard during the C20 process and further stressed that the principle of inclusiveness of C20 Turkey enhanced the participation and contribution of the civil society organizations of many countries in the world to the process. In returns, Paquet asserted that the active role played by the civil society organizations in Turkey working in different areas has contributed tremendously in improving the perception of Turkey in the EU. Furthermore, Paquet also pointed out to the important efforts shown to overcome global problems during Turkey’s G20 Presidency.

Following the breakfast working meeting organized at the European Parliament, IKV Vice-President and C20 Chairperson Zeynep Bodur Okyay, IKV Secretary-General and President of C20 Inclusive Growth Woking Group Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas, IKV Brussels Representative Haluk Nuray, C20 Turkey Sherpa and IKV Deputy Secretary-General Melih Özsöz, Member of C20 Turkey Secretariat and  Oxfam Turkey Director Meryem Aslan and IKV Junior Researcher Büşra Çatır from the C20 Turkey Delegation met with European Commission’s Head of  Turkey Unit Patrick Paquet and MEP and Rapporteur on Turkey of the European Parliament Kati Piri. During this meeting, the C20 Delegation gave detailed information on the priority areas and policy recommendation of Turkey C20 during Turkey’s G20 Presidency.