G-20 leaders propose Hamburg Action Plan at summit conclusion

The two-day G-20 summit that took place in Germany's Hamburg city ended with the leaders proposing the Hamburg Action Plan to address major global challenges, including climate change, harnessing digitalisation, and to contribute to prosperity and well-being.

"Mastering the challenges of our age and shaping an interconnected world is the common goal of the G-20 as our premier forum for international economic cooperation. We can achieve more together than by acting alone," an official statement read.

The leaders pledged to progress towards their joint objective in the G20, which is strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.

"We are resolved to tackle common challenges to the global community, including terrorism, displacement, poverty, hunger and health threats, job creation, climate change, energy security, and inequality including gender inequality, as a basis for sustainable development and stability," the statement read.

In order to improving sustainable livelihoods, the G-20 leaders collectively committed to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through, among others, increased innovation on sustainable and clean energies and energy efficiency, and work towards low greenhouse-gas emission energy systems.

"In facilitating well-balanced and economically viable long-term strategies in order to transform and enhance our economies and energy systems consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, G-20 members will collaborate closely," the statement read.

Taking note of its withdrawal from the Paris Peace Climate Accord, the United States of America announced that it would immediately cease the implementation of its current nationally-determined contribution and affirm its strong commitment to an approach that lowers emissions while supporting economic growth and improving energy security needs.

"The United States of America will endeavour to work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently and help deploy renewable and other clean energy sources, given the importance of energy access and security in their nationally-determined contributions," it said.

The Leaders of the other G-20 members also agreed that the Paris Agreement is irreversible reiterated the importance of fulfilling the UNFCCC commitment by developed countries in providing means of implementation including financial resources to assist developing countries with respect to both mitigation and adaptation actions in line with Paris outcomes.

The leaders also stressed on the importance of harnessing the benefits of globalisation, reaffirm the importance of transparency for predictable and mutually beneficial trade relations, harness digitalisation to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Besides this, the G-20 leaders also underlined to boost employment by improving sustainable global supply chains, which have been recognised as an important source of job creation and balanced economic growth.

The leaders also resolved to make a resilient global financial system in agreed international standards, to support sustainable growth.

"We remain committed to the finalisation and timely, full and consistent implementation of the agreed G-20 financial sector reform agenda. We will work to finalise the Basel III framework without further significantly increasing overall capital requirements across the banking sector, while promoting a level playing field," the statement said.

The G-20 leaders also called for safeguarding against health crises and strengthening health systems.

"The G-20 has a crucial role in advancing preparedness and responsiveness against global health challenges. With reference to the results of the G-20 health emergency simulation exercise, we emphasise the value of our ongoing, trust-building, cross-sectoral cooperation. We recall universal health coverage is a goal adopted in the 2030 Agenda and recognise that strong health systems are important to effectively address health crises," the statement said.

The leaders called on the United Nations to keep global health high on the political agenda and strive for cooperative action to strengthen health systems worldwide, including through developing the health workforce.

"We recognise that implementation of and compliance with the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) is critical for efficient prevention, preparedness and response efforts. We strive to fully eradicate polio. We also acknowledge that mass movement of people can pose significant health challenges and encourage countries and International Organisations to strengthen cooperation on the topic," the statement added.

Under this, the leaders also stressed on combatting Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), which is a growing threat to public health and economic growth.

"To tackle the spread of AMR in humans, animals and the environment, we aim to have implementation of our National Action Plans, based on a One-Health approach, well under way by the end of 2018. We will promote the prudent use of antibiotics1 in all sectors and strive to restrict their use in veterinary medicine to therapeutic uses alone," the leaders noted.

The leader in the G-20 Summit also remained committed to fighting corruption, including through practical international cooperation and technical assistance, and will continue to fully implement the G-20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan 2017-18.

"We endorse four sets of High Level Principles aimed at fostering integrity in the public and private sector," it said.