Turkey keen to debate Syria, refugees at G20 meet
NEW DELHI: The forthcoming G20 summit will not be only about the global economy. Host Turkey has said the world’s top 20 nations will have to debate the world’s biggest political and security crisis of the day, Syria, and the mass migration of refugees.
According to local media reports, the opening dinner of the summit on November 15 in Antalya will focus on these issues. Turkey has just arrested over 30 IS suspects in the run-up to the summit, while the Ankara blast on October 2, which killed 102 people, has been laid at the IS doorstep. Describing the Ankara attack as “Turkey’s 9/11”, Turkish ambassador to India Burak Akcapar told the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents that this was a top-of-the-mind issue.
For India, however, the economic agenda will remain important, said Arvind Panagariya, sherpa for the G20 summit, despite the discussion on “terrorism”. India will make a push for BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) and quote increases in the IMF.
The rest of the world, however, may be happier to discuss hardcore security issues. Russia has been bombing anti-Assad targets while the US has conducted strikes against IS. The discussion, therefore, could either be to shame Russia for its support to Bashar Al Assad or try to push a political solution. India has maintained that peace is important for a political solution. India’s greater concern would be to stop the IS in its tracks, believing it to be a more dangerous terror threat than any other at present.
Akcapar said there would be a bilateral conversation between PM Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Erdogan. “PM Modi is expected to make a bilateral visit in 2016 but we are hoping to see movement on some basic issues with India,” he said.
These, he said, included renewing some legal infrastructure in economic relations, which he said would be very useful for the Make in India and Skill India programmes. Also, Turkey is hoping for more liberal civil aviation and trade agreements with India. At the very least, they want to fly to six more Indian cities.
