G-20 summit to focus on Syria, migrants

Barry Wood | Special for USA TODAY

The civil war in Syria, the resulting flood of migrants into Europe and sluggish global growth will dominate talks that begin Sunday when leaders of the world's 20 top economies gather on the Turkish Mediterranean coast for their 10th summit.

President Obama is among those attending the two-day meeting of the Group of 20, formed in 2008 amid fears that a spreading financial crisis could trigger a worldwide depression. The nations represented at Antalya — including the USA, European powers, China, Russia, Japan, India and Brazil — account for 85% of global output.

Because of Turkey’s involvement in the conflict in neighboring Syria and the fact that combat is occurring only 300 miles from the summit venue, Syria looms large at Antalya. The leaders plan to discuss a possible peace plan and what to do about the flood of refugees fleeing Syria and other wars when they convene for a dinner meeting Sunday.

Also on the dinner agenda: steps for combating climate change in preparation for a United Nations conference set to begin at the end of November in Paris with the aim of reaching a new global plan of action.

The summit's host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party recently won parliamentary elections, will be a key player in the talks, noted University of Maryland professor Haluk Unal, former head of the Turkish-American Scholars Association.

A fierce opponent of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Erdogan is at odds with both Russian and U.S. policy toward Syria. He objects to Russia’s military intervention in support of Assad, and opposes American help for Kurds in Iraq and Syria because Kurds in Turkey oppose Erdogan and have long sought autonomy or formation of a Kurdish state.

Unal predicted that Erdogan will blame the West for not doing enough to help migrants from the Middle East, 2 million of whom are being sheltered in Turkey. Many embarked from Turkey to nearby Greek islands en route to Germany and other prosperous European nations. “Flush from his electoral triumph, Erdogan wants to shine at the summit,” Unal said.

As the global financial crisis has receded, economic matters have become less dominant at recent G-20 summits. Former Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury official Ted Truman, now at Washington’s Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the first two G-20 summits in 2008 and 2009 “were important, (but) the next seven were largely yawners.”

Last year in Australia, each leader promised to take steps that by 2018 would boost global growth two percentage points above current projections. Researchers at the University of Toronto said in a new report that several countries are on track to meet their goals. The United States and Britain have the best records so far, while Indonesia, South Africa and Saudi Arabia have done little, the report said.

Caroline Atkinson, Obama’s adviser on international economics and chief U.S. summit planner, said that because the International Monetary Fund has scaled back its global growth projections, G-20 countries need to fulfill their promises just so the world economy keeps up its modest pace.

Atkinson credited the coordinated stimulus measures taken by the G-20 nations in 2009 and 2010 for helping to avert a second Great Depression. She credited the 2011 summit in France for taking actions on European debt and finance that kept the euro currency zone intact.

The challenge this year, Atkinson said, "is boosting global demand."

During the summit, which ends Monday, Obama will confer separately with President Xi Jinping of China, next year’s summit host, as well as other world leaders.