G-20 leaders agree to work towards employment generation

Agreeing to work towards employment generation, the leaders attending the 2014 G-20 Summit on Sunday stated that global investment and infrastructure shortfalls is crucial to lifting growth, job creation and productivity.

"Our actions to boost growth and create quality jobs are set out in the Brisbane Action Plan and in our comprehensive growth strategies. We will monitor and hold each other to account for implementing our commitments, and actual progress towards our growth ambition, informed by analysis from international organisations. We will ensure our growth strategies continue to deliver and will review progress at our next meeting," the G-20 Leaders' Communique stated.

"Tackling global investment and infrastructure shortfalls is crucial to lifting growth, job creation and productivity. We endorse the Global Infrastructure Initiative, a multi-year work programme to lift quality public and private infrastructure investment," it added.

Touching on the strategies which will be employed to boost job production, the leaders agreed to strengthen public investment and improve domestic investment.

"Our growth strategies contain major investment initiatives, including actions to strengthen public investment and improve our domestic investment and financing climate, which is essential to attract new private sector finance for investment. We have agreed on a set of voluntary leading practices to promote and prioritise quality investment, particularly in infrastructure. To help match investors with projects, we will address data gaps and improve information on project pipelines," the statement read.

"We are working to facilitate long-term financing from institutional investors and to encourage market sources of finance, including transparent securitisation, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. We will continue to work with multilateral development banks, and encourage national development banks, to optimise use of their balance sheets to provide additional lending and ensure our work on infrastructure benefits low-income countries," it added.

The G-20 Summit also saw the leaders agree to establish a Global Infrastructure Hub, a knowledge-sharing platforms between governments.

"To support implementation of the Initiative, we agree to establish a Global Infrastructure Hub with a four-year mandate. The Hub will contribute to developing a knowledge-sharing platform and network between governments, the private sector, development banks and other international organisations. The Hub will foster collaboration among these groups to improve the functioning and financing of infrastructure markets," the statement read.

"To strengthen infrastructure and attract more private sector investment in developing countries, we welcome the launch of the World Bank Group's Global Infrastructure Facility, which will complement our work. We support similar initiatives by other development banks and continued cooperation amongst them," it added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently in Australia, attended the two-day G-20 Summit held here.

The Prime Minister travels to Sydney on Sunday where he will address the Indian diaspora, before visiting Canberra and Melbourne. On November 18, he leaves for Fiji, on the final leg of his three-nation trip.