This weekend I leave for the US, where I will host the fourth and last meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors under Australia’s Presidency.
Our G20 host year has been a productive one and there is still much work to do. At our meeting in Cairns, we showed that we are 90 per cent of the way towards achieving our ambitious goal from Sydney to lift global growth by an additional 2 per cent by 2018. Our work continues to boost demand and growth in the world economy.
A key outcome from Cairns was the Global Infrastructure Initiative (GII) to help the private sector, in partnership with government, take a greater role in delivering infrastructure.
The GII will break down barriers for investment through best practice infrastructure planning and development. In Washington, I will be seeking G20 support to establish a Global Infrastructure Centre (GIC) to implement the GII.
The view inside the G20 is that now is the time to act. Governments need new ways to work with business and other stakeholders to tap into private sector expertise and unlock the enormous potential for private sector funding of new infrastructure, in turn creating jobs.
The G20 Finance Ministers, as part of a growth agenda, are also committed to addressing the global concern of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) and putting in place processes to ensure that companies and individuals pay their fair share of tax.
We have already delivered on many of the key commitments in our financial sector reform agenda, which supports growth and stability in the global economy.
I will also hold a number of bilateral meetings, including with Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve, German Minister of Finance, Dr Wolfgang Schäuble, Canadian Minister of Finance, Joe Oliver and President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim.
On my way to and from Washington I will stopover in New York and London respectively and have the opportunity to meet with executives and representatives from the investment sectors and discuss the G20 agenda.