At T20 Summit, Pondering How to Follow Through on the SDGs Despite Fraying Faith in Multilateralism

Representatives of leading think tanks from around the world gathered in Tokyo on May 26-27 for the Think20 (T20) Summit, where they presented and discussed their policy recommendations for the G20 leadership summit on June 28-29 in Osaka. The theme of the T20 Summit is “Seeking a Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Society.”

In a keynote speech moderated by JICA-RI Director Izumi Ohno, who is also lead co-chair of T20 Task Force 1, diplomat Amina Mohamed, Kenyan cabinet secretary for Sports, Culture and Heritage focused on the WTO as an example of the importance of protecting multilateralism.

Ohno made comments after the speech, saying that the strength of the G20, compared with the G7, lies in the diversity of stakeholders. Ohno asked Mohamed whether the G20 is inclusive enough, and Mohamed said it should welcome more countries from the South.

JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka gave a keynote speech on “UHC, SDGs, and Human Security,” followed by Gabriel Leung, the Univ. of Hong Kong, who outlined the overview of the T20 policy brief on UHC. These presentations sparked lively discussions among the panelists on what G20 and the international community can do to realize UHC in today’s world – including the continued commitment of international community, sustainable financing, government-led in-country partnerships, the health of migrants, migration of health professional, and effective utilization of innovation and technology for UHC.

JICA Vice-President Nobuko Kayashima made opening remarks. Kazuhiro Yoshida, Hiroshima Univ., presented the recommendations to the G20, which emphasized requirements for inclusive and outcome-oriented quality education as well as responding to aspects of the current situation such as climate change and digitalization. Shinichi Tanaka, JICA senior advisor, elaborated on the recommended transformation of regular schools by prioritizing students’ learning instead of teachers’ teaching with shared responsibility among guardians and community, while highlighting the importance of non-cognitive skills. Other panelists spoke on the importance of early childhood development, elimination of gender gaps in education development, and teacher’s quality.

Izumi Ohno, director of JICA-RI, presented key policy recommendations for scaling up the business impact on the SDGs, highlighting the need to embed the SDGs into core business strategies and operations, as well as promote “quality foreign direct investment (FDI)” to enhance developing countries’ global value chain (GVC) participation. Secondly, Kashuku Hirao, senior general manager at OMRON Sustainability Office, introduced OMRON corporation’s principles, which are based on the founder’s vision, and commitment to sustainability and explained how the company endeavors to incorporate sustainability into its medium-term business plan. Other panelists discussed conflicts between the current economic system and long-term SDG thinking and emphasized the need to create a sustainable ecosystem for all.

Homi Kharas, the Brookings Institution, gave a keynote presentation on sustainable finance for development following the opening remarks of Hiroshi Watanabe, president of International Institute of Monetary Affairs. He highlighted the need to expand sustainable financing, improve allocation of development finance, and support developing countries in sector-specific platforms to generate coherent and quality project proposals linked to national development plans. Panelists, including Naoko Ishii, CEO of Global Environment Facility, gave comments on and discussed financial inclusion and how finance can support the achievement of the SDGs from an environmental point of view. This session was organized as a joint session of Task Forces 1 and 2 (International Financial Architecture for Stability and Development/Crypto-asset and Fintech).

Sachin Chaturvedi, Research and Information System for Developing Countries, outlined key policy recommendations for enhancing science, technology and innovation (STI) cooperation and building technological and financial capability of developing countries. Active discussions followed among the panelists, including Tateo Arimoto, professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, who introduced initiatives at multilateral fora including STI for SDGs Roadmaps, how Japan incorporates plans into multiple policies, ideas of “Technology Bank”, activities and challenges as well as the role of the G20 in supporting the initiative.

Margo Thomas, founder and CEO of Women’s Economic Imperative, moderated this session. Jose Florito, CIPPEC, gave a summary of policy recommendations. Kanako Aramaki, manager of Women’s Active Participation Support Division, Kita-Kyushu City, introduced the city’s support on women’s labor participation (start-up and employment support), as well as its unique initiative for promoting executives’ and their subordinates’ work-life balances (“Iku Boss alliance”). Other panelists discussed imbalances in educational achievement, the importance of STEM education, monitoring systems for achieving 25 by 25 goals and so on.