G20 Declaration

June 21, 2011
New York

The New York Forum:

We, leaders of the world business community, met at The New York Forum on June 20-21, 2011, to discuss and establish a program for action for your review. The focus of the 2011 NYF was "Committed to Growth", and we believe economic, corporate, and job growth is essential for the health of our societies.

We propose the following actions be considered by the G20 to promote responsible global growth:

Economic leadership

  1. Promote further economic rebalancing as essential to creating the stable conditions for global growth. Growing consumption in the economies of East Asia needs support, while savings in the advanced economies of Europe and North America needs strengthening over time.
  2. Maintain consistent, stable regulations. In an increasingly uncertain, volatile world, businesses need stability from governments above all.
  3. Create concrete programs to spur entrepreneurship and dynamism in the Arab world in order to seize the global economic opportunities created by the changes sweeping across the Arab world.

Entrepreneurship

  1. Establish tax policies that reward creation of sustainable, innovative new enterprises.
  2. Dismantle regulations and policies that protect incumbent companies at the expense of new, disruptive companies.
  3. Allow market forces to act, to enable stronger, more competitive companies and appropriate, not excessive risk-taking. At the same time, ensure that there are retraining and support programs for displaced workers.
  4. Remove trade and cultural barriers to innovation from emerging markets. The world needs the free flow of ideas.

Human capital

  1. Enact immigration policies encouraging diversity and free flow of human capital.
  2. Explicitly upgrade the broader pool of human capital through comprehensive global and national skills audits to understand and uncover hidden pockets of talent. Diversity in organizations is a strength, and increasingly it is a requirement for effectiveness.
  3. Urge emerging-market governments to expand their investment in education, particularly for women.
  4. Recognize that the education that will prepare our societies for the remainder of the century requires science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), but also a strong grounding in the arts and humanities. The same technology tools are available everywhere; it is culture and creativity that will distinguish their use.

We are convinced that these actions will play a key role in restoring economic growth and dynamism, spur job creation, and create a far more favorable environment for innovation and sustainable development. We will review progress on these proposals before next year's G20 meeting in Mexico.