Hans-Werner Sinn afirma que los americanos no pagan un gran número de los muchos Porsche, Mercedes, BMW entregados.

President Trump’s Necessary German Lessons

MUNICH – US President Donald Trump has criticized Germany’s enormous current-account surplus, which he considers the result of German currency manipulation. But the president is wrong. While Germany’s external surplus, at 8% of GDP, is big – too big – it is not the result of currency manipulation by Germany. The real culprits are an inflationary credit bubble in southern Europe, the expansionary policies of the European Central Bank, and the financial products US banks sold to the world. So, instead of blaming Germany, President Trump would do well to focus on institutions in his own country.

Germany’s trade surplus is rooted in the fact that Germany sells its goods too cheaply. Here, the Trump administration is basically right. The euro is too cheap relative to the US dollar, and Germany is selling too cheaply to its trading partners within the eurozone. This undervaluation boosts demand for German goods in other countries, while making Germany reluctant to import as much as it exports.

The euro is currently priced at $1.07, whereas OECD purchasing power parity stands at $1.29. This implies a 17% undervaluation of the euro. Moreover, Germany is 19% too cheap within the eurozone if one uses as a baseline a calculation by Goldman Sachs from 2013 and subtracts the appreciation in real terms since that time. On the whole, this implies that Germany’s currency is undervalued by about a third.

 

So the fact that German products are undervalued is indisputable. The question is why the exchange rate has strayed so far from fundamentals.

The undervaluation within the eurozone has its roots in the inflationary credit bubble triggered by the announcement and implementation of the euro in southern Europe after the Madrid Summit of 1995, which brought with it drastic interest-rate cuts in these economies. Interest rates in Italy, Spain, and Portugal fell by about five percentage points, and in Greece by roughly 20 percentage points.

The cheap foreign credit brought about by the euro enabled these countries’ governments and construction sectors to raise wages faster than productivity increased, thereby pushing up prices and undermining the competitiveness of their manufacturing sectors. Germany, which was at that time in a deep crisis, kept inflation low, in line with the requirements of the Maastricht Treaty, so it became cheaper and cheaper in relative terms.

The undervaluation of the euro, by contrast, has two root causes. One is the European Central Bank’s ultra-loose monetary policy, particularly its program of quantitative easing (QE), under which €2.3 trillion of freshly printed money is being used to buy eurozone securities.

Part of that money is flowing abroad in search of higher returns, thus leading to euro depreciation. This is indeed a form of indirect currency manipulation. It should be noted, however, that the ECB’s governing council adopted QE and other expansionary measures, despite the fierce opposition of the German Bundesbank. So this is not a policy for which Germany can be held responsible.

The second root cause of the euro’s undervaluation lies within the country over which President Trump presides. Thanks to the dollar’s status as the world’s main reserve currency, the US financial industry has managed in recent decades to offer international investors a potpourri of alluring products. This has driven up the dollar’s value and chronically undermined export competitiveness, much like the financial products offered by the City of London did in the UK by fueling sterling appreciation in the years of undisputed EU membership.

Economists speak of “Dutch disease” in situations like this, because the emergence of the Netherlands’ gas industry in the 1960s placed upward pressure on the guilder, decimating the manufacturing sector. Whether a country sells gas or financial products to the rest of the world doesn’t matter all that much; the point is that the successful sector crowds out others by causing real exchange-rate appreciation. In lamenting the strong dollar’s effect on manufacturing employment in the US, President Trump should look to Wall Street, not Germany.

He should also consider that those alluring US financial products, which have so afflicted America’s export sector, have sometimes been pie in the sky rather than legitimate investment opportunities. Both President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton prompted brokers with their Community Reinvestment Act to help the US poor achieve home ownership by means of generous loans, even though it was clear from the outset that many of these borrowers would never be able to repay the money.

The brokers sold their claims to the banks, which in turn cunningly packaged them in opaque asset-backed securities that they then palmed off to the world with sham AAA ratings. “Stupid German money” was the term used on Wall Street for the funds that flowed in to finance America’s social policy.

That scam was exposed during the financial crisis. In 2010, Germany’s government had to support its banks with €280 billion, by establishing two bad banks to take over these problematic financial products. Viewed from this perspective, a large number of the many Porsches, Mercedes, and BMWs delivered to America have never been paid for at all. The US president should take this into consideration before threatening a trade war – or even indulging in a Twitter spat – with Germany.

Hans-Werner Sinn, Professor of Economics and Public Finance at the University of Munich, was President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and serves on the German economy ministry’s Advisory Council.

25 de Marzo 2017, Marcha por una REFUNDACION EUROPEA

Nosotros, los ciudadanos europeos, estamos preocupados y asustados. La crisis económica y financiera nos ha empobrecido. El desempleo juvenil genera el riesgo de una generación perdida. La desigualdad crece, la cohesión social está en peligro. La Unión Europea está rodeada de guerra e inestabilidad desde Ucrania a Turquía, Oriente Medio y el Norte de África. El flujo de refugiados y migrantes se ha convertido en un reto estructural que debemos afrontar juntos, con humanidad y visión de futuro. Somos testigos de las tendencias autoritarias que crecen en varios Estados miembros, y también del ascenso de fuerzas nacionalistas y xenófobas. Se están atacando la democracia y los valores fundamentales de la civilización europea moderna. Se cuestiona incluso la propia Unión Europea, que ha garantizado la paz, la democracia y el bienestar durante décadas.

Nosotros, los ciudadanos europeos, no queremos que nuestros políticos nacionales se preocupen solo de sus próximas elecciones locales o estatales. Es común escucharles pedir soluciones europeas a problemas europeos, pero luego intentan que se vuelvan imposibles de ejecutar o ineficaces. Ignoran propuestas sensatas de la Comisión, o no aplican las ya acordadas entre todos. Reclaman, un día, que Europa actúe, y al siguiente, se quejan de que lo haya hecho. Pedimos, por ello, que nuestros políticos nacionales y los medios de comunicación dejen de entender el proceso de integración como un juego de suma cero, tratando de enfrentar a los países entre sí. En un mundo interdependiente, ninguna nación puede satisfacer por sí sola las necesidades básicas de sus ciudadanos ni garantizar la justicia social. La integración y la gobernanza supranacional son un juego de suma positiva. Nuestro modelo social europeo, basado en la democracia liberal y en la economía social de mercado, solo puede sobrevivir en un sistema de gobernanza multinivel, construido sobre la base del principio de subsidiaridad.

Nosotros, los ciudadanos europeos, somos conscientes de que la globalización está transformando el mundo. Necesitamos un gobierno europeo que defienda nuestros valores compartidos, y que contribuya a una solución conjunta para los problemas que están amenazando a la humanidad. El mundo necesita una Europa que se proyecte al exterior, cosmopolita, que ayude a construir un sistema de gobernanza democrática global más efectivo, capaz de hacer frente al cambio climático y a la pobreza, que luche por la paz, que se involucre en la transición hacia una economía social y medioambientalmente sostenible.

 

Nosotros, los ciudadanos europeos, reconocemos a la UE como una Res Publica incompleta. Cuenta con un presupuesto ridículo (0,9 % del PIB). No tiene autonomía financiera de sus Estados miembros, ni las competencias necesarias para responder con éxito a los desafíos de la crisis actual. Es cierto que sus órganos legislativos, judiciales y su banco central corresponden a un diseño cuasi federal. Sin embargo, la democracia es la posibilidad de que los ciudadanos elijan su gobierno y este sea responsable de sus políticas. Para que la Unión pueda ser eficaz y democrática en la toma de decisiones, sus decisiones (incluidas las relativas al presupuesto, la política exterior y de defensa, y la reforma de los Tratados) deberían ser adoptadas, principalmente, por una mayoría cualificada que represente la voluntad mayoritaria de los ciudadanos y de los Estados europeos. La Comisión debe convertirse en un gobierno de pleno derecho, que promueva una agenda política legitimada a través de elecciones. Los partidos políticos europeos deberían presentar candidatos a su presidencia en las elecciones europeas. Una alternativa podría ser la elección directa de un presidente de la Unión Europea, fusionando en este cargo las actuales presidencias de la Comisión y del Consejo Europeo.

El 14 de febrero de 1984, el Parlamento Europeo aprobó el llamado Proyecto de Tratado por el que se establece la Unión Europea, también conocido como Proyecto Spinelli. En él, se apostaba por avanzar hacia una unión política, pero los Estados miembros no lo aprobaron. El 14 de febrero de 2017, hacemos un llamamiento al Parlamento Europeo, única institución de la Unión Europea elegida directamente por los ciudadanos, para que tome la iniciativa e impulse una Unión con una base democrática reforzada. Hablar de unión bancaria, fiscal, económica, energética, defensiva, de seguridad o política solo tiene sentido en una

Unión Europea auténticamente democrática,

en la que sea un gobierno europeo el que impulse dichas políticas.

El 25 de marzo de 2017, los Jefes de Estado y de Gobierno celebrarán el aniversario de los Tratados de Roma, de 1957, en los que se creó la Comunidad Económica Europea y el Euratom. Les pedimos que retomen la visión que tuvieron en su día los fundadores. Deben abrir el camino para una refundación de la UE, y hacerlo sobre la base de una propuesta del Parlamento Europeo. Deben aprovechar los instrumentos del Tratado de Lisboa para fortalecer las instituciones y políticas de la UE, especialmente las relativas a la acción exterior, a la seguridad, a la política económica y a la social. Pedimos también a los jóvenes europeos, a la sociedad civil, a los trabajadores, a los empresarios, a los académicos, a los gobiernos locales y, en general, a todos los ciudadanos europeos, que participen en la

Marcha por Europa 

que tendrá lugar el 25 de marzo en Roma. Juntos podremos transmitir a los líderes políticos la fuerza y el coraje necesarios para conducir a la UE a este nuevo comienzo.

La unidad europea es la clave para solucionar nuestros problemas comunes, para proteger nuestros valores, para garantizar, en definitiva, nuestro bienestar, nuestra seguridad y nuestra democracia.

EUROPA: un pollo sin cabeza

The Manchurian Cabinet

DEC 14, 2016

 

MOSCOW – Donald Trump 's transition from US President-elect to taking power recalls nothing so much as a forgotten Hollywood genre: the paranoid melodrama. Perhaps the greatest film of this type, The Manchurian Candidate, concerns a communist plot to use the brainwashed son of a leading right-wing family to upend the American political system. Given the fondness that Trump and so many of his appointees seem to have for Russian President Vladimir Putin, life may be about to imitate – if not exceed – art. 

To be sure, the attraction for Putin that Trump, Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson, and National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn share is not the result of brainwashing, unless you consider the love of money (and of the people who can funnel it to you) a form of brainwashing. Nonetheless, such Kremlinophilia is – to resurrect a word redolent of Cold War paranoia – decidedly un-American.

Consider the derision shown by Trump and his posse for CIA reports that Kremlin-directed hackers intervened in last month’s election to benefit Trump. In typical fashion, Trump let loose a barrage of tweets blasting the CIA as somehow under the thumb of his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton. His nominee for Deputy Secretary of State, John Bolton, went even further, suggesting that the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, was a “false flag” operation designed to smear an innocent Kremlin.

 

The idea that a US president-elect would take the word of the Kremlin over that of CIA officials and even the most senior members of his own party is already bizarre and dangerous. But the simultaneous nomination of Tillerson – the long-time CEO of ExxonMobil, America’s most powerful energy company, which has tens of billions of dollars invested in Russia – to be America’s top diplomat takes this love affair with a major adversary to a level unprecedented in US history.

For Tillerson, taking Russia’s side against the US is nothing new. Consider the sanctions that the US and Europe imposed on Russia in response to the country’s annexation of Crimea – a blatantly illegal act – in 2014. Instead of supporting US policy, Tillerson belittled it. Instead of fully honoring President Barack Obama’s call for ExxonMobil not to send a representative to the annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum after the annexation, Tillerson cynically sent the head of one of ExxonMobil’s international operations. And instead of returning the Order of Friendship that he received from Putin months before the invasion of Crimea, Tillerson continues to celebrate his status as a “friend of Vladimir.”

Flynn, like Tillerson, has also been feasting at the Kremlin trough. After being fired by Obama for his incompetent management of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Flynn immediately began to cultivate Russian business contacts. And Putin seems to have been more than happy to see that commercial doors were opened to Flynn. There is a now-infamous photograph of Flynn seated next to Putin at a banquet for RT (Russia Today), the Kremlin-backed cable news network that was a prime source of the slanted, and even fake, news that inundated the US during the recent election campaign.

As for Trump, statements made by his sons suggest that, if the American public ever got a look at his tax returns and business loans, they would find that he has also been feathering his nest with Kremlin gold for some time. He has undoubtedly taken money from countless Russian oligarchs. In 2008, he unloaded one of his Palm Beach mansions on Dmitry Rybolovlev, a fertilizer oligarch, for $95 million. Sergei Millian, who heads the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, is said to have facilitated countless investments from Russians into Trump projects. For Trump, no money is too tainted to pocket.

Trump’s adoration of Russia – or, more accurately, Russian riches – was apparent well before Americans went to the polls, as was his habit of surrounding himself with likeminded advisers. For months, Trump’s presidential campaign was run by Paul Manafort, a political operative who had worked to secure the disgraced President Viktor Yanukovych’s victory in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential election. Trump severed public ties with Manafort only after Ukraine’s current democratic government revealed documents that hinted at the millions of dollars that Yanukovych had paid Manafort, in cash.

As Trump’s inauguration draws near, Americans must confront three big questions. One, in a sense, is a take on a question that Trump raised about Clinton during the campaign: what happens if the FBI finds evidence of criminal conduct by the president? Or, perhaps more likely in Trump’s case, what happens if the president tries to shut down FBI investigations into his commercial activities involving Russia, or into the actions of cronies like Manafort?

The second question, which the US Senate should ask before confirming Tillerson as Secretary of State, concerns the extent of his and ExxonMobil’s financial interests in Russia. The Senate should also probe how closely Tillerson has cooperated with Igor Sechin, the chairman of Rosneft and a notorious ex-KGB operative, particularly in renationalizing much of the Russian oil industry and placing it under Sechin’s personal control. (Similar questions should be asked about Flynn, though, because the National Security Adviser doesn’t need to be confirmed by the Senate, little can be done about his appointment.) 

The biggest question of all concerns the American people. Are they really willing to accept a president who denounces men and women who risk their lives to defend the US, and who is equally quick to praise and defend Putin and his cronies when their reckless, even criminal, conduct is exposed?

At the end of The Manchurian Candidate, another brainwashed character – Frank Sinatra’s Marco – escapes his programming to foil the communist plot. But that was Cold War Hollywood: of course the good guys won. Trump the Movie is unlikely to end so well. 

Nina L. Khrushcheva, the author of Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics and The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey into the Gulag of the Russian Mind, is Professor of International Affairs and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at The New School and a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute. 

Recordando un articulo de MILTON FRIEDMAN del 22 de Agosto de 1997

The Euro: Monetary Unity To Political Disunity?

 

SAN FRANCISCO - A common currency is an excellent monetary arrangement under some circumstances, a poor monetary arrangement under others. Whether it is good or bad depends primarily on the adjustment mechanisms that are available to absorb the economic shocks and dislocations that impinge on the various entities that are considering a common currency. Flexible exchange rates are a powerful adjustment mechanism for shocks that affect the entities differently. It is worth dispensing with this mechanism to gain the advantage of lower transaction costs and external discipline only if there are adequate alternative adjustment mechanisms.

The United States is an example of a situation that is favorable to a common currency. Though composed of fifty states, its residents overwhelmingly speak the same language, listen to the same television programs, see the same movies, can and do move freely from one part of the country to another; goods and capital move freely from state to state; wages and prices are moderately flexible; and the national government raises in taxes and spends roughly twice as much as state and local governments. Fiscal policies differ from state to state, but the differences are minor compared to the common national policy. 

Unexpected shocks may well affect one part of the United States more than others -- as, for example, the Middle East embargo on oil did in the 1970s, creating an increased demand for labor and boom conditions in some states, such as Texas, and unemployment and depressed conditions in others, such as the oil-importing states of the industrial Midwest. The different short-run effects were soon mediated by movements of people and goods, by offsetting financial flows from the national to the state and local governments, and by adjustments in prices and wages.

By contrast, Europe’s common market exemplifies a situation that is unfavorable to a common currency. It is composed of separate nations, whose residents speak different languages, have different customs, and have far greater loyalty and attachment to their own country than to the common market or to the idea of "Europe." Despite being a free trade area, goods move less freely than in the United States, and so does capital.

The European Commission based in Brussels, indeed, spends a small fraction of the total spent by governments in the member countries. They, not the European Union’s bureaucracies, are the important political entities. Moreover, regulation of industrial and employment practices is more extensive than in the United States, and differs far more from country to country than from American state to American state. As a result, wages and prices in Europe are more rigid, and labor less mobile. In those circumstances, flexible exchange rates provide an extremely useful adjustment mechanism.

If one country is affected by negative shocks that call for, say, lower wages relative to other countries, that can be achieved by a change in one price, the exchange rate, rather than by requiring changes in thousands on thousands of separate wage rates, or the emigration of labor. The hardships imposed on France by its "franc fort" policy illustrate the cost of a politically inspired determination not to use the exchange rate to adjust to the impact of German unification. Britain’s economic growth after it abandoned the European Exchange Rate Mechanism a few years ago to refloat the pound illustrates the effectiveness of the exchange rate as an adjustment mechanism.

Proponents of the "Euro" often cite the gold standard era from 1879 to 1914 as demonstrating the benefits of a common currency. But the gold standard also had its costs. The period was characterized by declining prices from 1879 to 1896, rising prices thereafter, and sharp fluctuations within each period, especially severe in the 1890s. The standard was viable only because governments were small (spending in the neighborhood of 10 percent of the national income rather than 50 or more percent as now), prices and wages were highly flexible, and the public was willing to tolerate, or had no way to moderate, wide swings in output and employment. Take away the rose-colored glasses and it was hardly a period or a system to emulate.

As of today, a subgroup of the European Union -- perhaps Germany, the Benelux countries, and Austria -- come closer to satisfying the conditions favorable to a common currency than does the EU as a whole. And they currently have the equivalent of a common currency. Austria and the Benelux three have, to all intents and purposes, linked their currencies to the Deutschmark. However, these countries still retain their central banks and hence can break the link at will. Any country that wishes to link to the Dmark more firmly can do so on its own, simply by replacing its central bank with a currency board, as some countries (such as Estonia) outside the EU have done.

The drive for the Euro has been motivated by politics not economics. The aim has been to link Germany and France so closely as to make a future European war impossible, and to set the stage for a federal United States of Europe. I believe that adoption of the Euro would have the opposite effect. It would exacerbate political tensions by converting divergent shocks that could have been readily accommodated by exchange rate changes into divisive political issues. Political unity can pave the way for monetary unity. Monetary unity imposed under unfavorable conditions will prove a barrier to the achievement of political unity. 

G7... Nosotros, los líderes

G7 Ise-Shima Leaders’ Declaration

G7 Ise-Shima Summit, 26-27 May 2016

 

Preamble

We, the leaders of the G7, met in Ise-Shima on 26 and 27 May 2016 to address major global economic and political challenges. Global growth remains moderate and below potential, while risks of weak growth persist. Escalated geo-political conflicts, terrorism and refugee flows complicate the global economic environment. The rise of violent extremism, terrorist attacks and other challenges, pose serious threat to the existing rule based international order, as well as to common values and principles for all humanity.

The G7 has a special responsibility to lead international efforts to tackle these challenges. We remain bound together as a group guided by our common values and principles, including freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Furthermore, following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) and the Paris Agreement on climate change last year, we will further make efforts to implement our commitments. Today, we have demonstrated our capacity to make tangible progress on a broad range of economic, security, and development policy issues, and we will demonstrate through our actions, a path forward in solving major issues to ensure peace, security and prosperity of the world.

G7 Ise-Shima Economic Initiative

We pledge to collectively tackle current economic challenges, while laying out foundations for stronger long-term global growth. Therefore, we have developed our commitment in the following areas as our response to contribute to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

• World Economy: Global growth is our urgent priority. Taking into account country-specific circumstances, we commit to strengthening our economic policy responses in a cooperative manner and to employing a more forceful and balanced policy mix, in order to swiftly achieve a strong, sustainable and balanced growth pattern.
  We reiterate our commitments to using all policy tools – monetary, fiscal and structural – individually and collectively, to strengthen global demand and address supply constraints, while continuing our efforts to put debt on a sustainable path. We reaffirm the important role of mutually-reinforcing fiscal, monetary and structural policies, the three pronged approach, to buttress our efforts to achieve strong, sustainable, and balanced growth. We concur on the importance of strengthening our efforts in a cooperative manner to implement our fiscal strategies flexibly to strengthen growth, job creation and confidence, while enhancing resilience and ensuring debt as a share of GDP on a sustainable path, as well as to advance structural reform decisively. We are committed to advancing structural reforms to boost growth, productivity and potential output and to leading by example in addressing structural challenges. We commit to further investment in areas conducive to economic growth, such as environment, energy, digital economy, human resource development, education, science and technology.
  
  
• Migration and Refugees: The G7 recognizes the ongoing large scale movements of migrants and refugees as a global challenge which requires a global response. We commit to increase global assistance to meet immediate and long-term needs of refugees and other displaced persons as well as their host communities. The G7 encourages international financial institutions and bilateral donors to bolster their financial and technical assistance.
  
  
• Trade: We are committed to using trade to create economic opportunities for workers, consumers and firms. We reaffirm our commitment to keep our markets open and to fight all forms of protectionism. In order to further boost free trade, we commit to strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system and promote WTO negotiations. We also encourage trade liberalization efforts through regional trade agreements including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). We recognize that global excess capacity in industrial sectors, especially steel, is a pressing structural challenge with global implications and this issue needs to be urgently addressed through elimination of market distorting measures and, thereby, enhancement of market function.
  
  
• Infrastructure: We endorse the G7 Ise-Shima Principles for Promoting Quality Infrastructure Investment to address the global demand-supply gap and strive to align our own infrastructure investment with the Principles. We further encourage the relevant stakeholders, including multilateral development banks (MDBs), to align their infrastructure investment and assistance with the Principles.
  
  
• Health: We commit to take concrete actions for advancing global health as elaborated in the G7 Ise-Shima Vision for Global Health, highlighting that health is the foundation of economic prosperity and security. We commit to promote Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as well as endeavor to take leadership in reinforcing response to public health emergencies and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which could have serious impacts on our economies. We also emphasize promoting research and development (R&D) and innovation in these and other health areas.
  
  
• Women: We commit to create a society where all women and girls are empowered and actively engaged for sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth. We commit to empowering women and girls, including through capacity-building such as education and training as well as promoting active role of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. We endorse to the G7 Guiding Principles for Building the Capacity of Women and Girls as common guiding principles for our actions.
  
  
• Cyber: We strongly support an accessible, open, interoperable, reliable and secure cyberspace as one essential foundation for economic growth and prosperity. We promote digital adoption for improved quality of life, by bridging digital divides, enabling innovative business models and affordable universal and high quality access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as well as enhancing digital literacy. We endorse the G7 Principles and Actions on Cyber and commit to take decisive actions.
  
  
• Anti-Corruption: Our collective and individual action to fight corruption is critical for economic growth, sustainable development and maintaining peace and security. We resolve to take measures to improve public procurement transparency, enhance fiscal transparency, and improve anti-corruption capacity building as well as strengthen law enforcement cooperation. We will also promote global effort to fight corruption. We endorse the G7 Action to Fight Corruption as our commitment to lead by example in moving the global anti-corruption agenda forward.
  
  
• Climate: The G7, continuing to take a leadership role, commits to taking the necessary steps to secure ratification, acceptance or approval of the Paris Agreement as soon as possible, and calls on all Parties to do so striving for a goal of entry into force in 2016. We commit to take the lead by early, transparent and robust implementation of our nationally determined contributions, and promoting increased ambition over time. We also commit to actively participate in the regular review of global stock-take progress every five years. We commit to formulate and communicate ambitions mid-century long-term low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission development strategies well ahead of the 2020 deadline.
  
  
• Energy: Recognizing the important role that the energy system has to play in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, we are determined to accelerate our work towards the transition to an energy system that enables a decarbonization of the global economy, and commit to further invest in supporting innovation in energy technologies and encouraging clean energy and energy efficiency, so as to ensure economic growth with reduced GHG emissions. Faced with the increased uncertainty posed by the current energy price levels, we also commit to play a leading role in facilitating energy investments, in particular investments in quality energy infrastructure and upstream development.
  

Global Economy

State of the Global Economy

The global recovery continues, but growth remains moderate and uneven, and since we last met downside risks to the global outlook have increased. Global trade performance has disappointed in recent years. Weak demand and unaddressed structural problems are the key factors weighing on actual and potential growth. There are potential shocks of a non-economic origin. A UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create, and is a further serious risk to growth. Escalated geopolitical conflicts, terrorism and refugee flows, are complicating factors in the global economic environment. We have strengthened the resilience of our economies in order to avoid falling into another crisis, and to this end, commit to reinforce our efforts to address the current economic situation by taking all appropriate policy responses in a timely manner.

Policy Response

In  light  of  this  background,  taking  into  account  country-specific  circumstances,  we  commit  to strengthening our economic policy responses in a cooperative manner and to employing a more forceful and balanced policy mix, in order to swiftly achieve a strong, sustainable and balanced growth pattern. We stand ready to deploy robust policy responses to bolster short and longer-term growth as necessary. We reiterate our commitments to using all policy tools – monetary, fiscal and structural – individually and collectively, to strengthen global demand and address supply constraints, while continuing our efforts to put debt on a sustainable path. We reaffirm the important role of mutually-reinforcing fiscal, monetary and structural policies, the three pronged approach, to buttress our efforts to achieve strong, sustainable, and balanced growth. We remain committed to ensuring that growth is inclusive and job-rich, benefitting all segments of our societies.

Monetary policy authorities have committed to supporting the economic recovery and overcoming disinflation, consistent with their mandates, including through unconventional policies. However, monetary policy alone cannot lead to strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

We concur on the importance of strengthening our efforts in a cooperative manner to implement our fiscal strategies flexibly to strengthen growth, job creation and confidence, while enhancing resilience and ensuring debt as a share of GDP on a sustainable path, as well as to advance structural reforms decisively. This will also allow us to respond to emerging risks and urgent social and humanitarian needs.

We are also making tax policy and public spending as growth-friendly as possible, including by prioritizing expenditure in favor of high-quality investment. We will consider the composition of our budget expenditures and revenues to support productivity, employment, inclusiveness and growth. We commit to ensuring that our fiscal and structural policies support sustainable social security services, which contribute to addressing our common demographic challenges. We intend to ensure an appropriate level of public investment as well as promote quality infrastructure investment to address shortfalls, including through effective resource mobilization in partnership with the private sector. We commit to further investment in areas conducive to economic growth, such as environment, energy, digital economy, human resource development, education, science and technology.

We are committed to advancing structural reforms to boost growth, productivity and potential output and to leading by example in addressing structural challenges. Labor market reform remains important in some of our economies. We commit to advancing labor market participation by women, the youth and the elderly, and improving job opportunity and quality. We commit to promote active labor market policies in order to ensure flexibility, inclusiveness and provide opportunities for the unemployed. We recognize the importance of achieving price stability and underline that wage dynamics should remain in line with productivity. We commit to ensuring a strong corporate governance framework that helps firms to channel corporate earnings in a productive manner to investment and wages. We are promoting competition, entrepreneurship and innovation, including by lowering barriers to new business entrants. Innovation is critical to realize sustainable growth. Competition is a source of innovation and we commit to protect intellectual property rights.

We recognize that global excess capacity in industrial sectors, especially steel, is a pressing structural challenge with global implications.

We reaffirm our existing exchange rate commitments to market determined exchange rates and to consult closely in regard to actions in foreign exchange markets. We reaffirm that our fiscal and monetary policies have been and will remain oriented towards meeting our respective domestic objectives using domestic instruments and that we will not target exchange rates. We underscore the importance of all countries refraining from competitive devaluation. We reiterate that excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates can have adverse implications for economic and financial stability.

A stable and resilient international financial architecture is critical for economic and financial stability. We welcome the entry-into-effect of the 2010 IMF Quota and Governance reforms and reaffirm our 

commitment to a strong, quota-based and adequately resourced IMF.

Financial Regulation

We reiterate our commitments to support the timely, full and consistent implementation of the G20 financial sector reform agenda, which will help us achieve our objective of sustainable economic growth. We also remain committed to finalizing the main elements of the regulatory reform agenda. We also reiterate our support for the work by the Basel Committee to refine elements of Basel III framework to ensure its coherence and maximize its effectiveness without further significantly increasing overall capital requirements across the banking sector. We continue to closely monitor, and if necessary, address emerging risks and vulnerabilities in the financial system, including those associated with shadow banking, asset management and other market-based finance activities. We welcome the work of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in cooperation with other standard setting bodies (SSBs) to assess holistically the extent, drivers and possible persistence of shifts in market liquidity across jurisdictions and asset classes and consider policy measures if necessary.

We will also continue to enhance the monitoring of implementation and effects of reforms to ensure their consistency with our overall objectives, including by addressing any material unintended consequences. In this regard, we welcome the work by the FSB and SSBs to enhance the analysis of the effects of G20 financial regulatory reforms, including the combined effects and interaction across sectors of related reforms, and look forward to the FSB’s second annual report to the G20 on implementation and effects of regulatory reforms. We intend to reap the economic benefits of technologically enabled financial innovations while managing their potential impacts on financial stability and market integrity. We welcome the work of the G7 Cyber Experts Group in the financial area to foster cyber security and enhance cooperation among G7 countries in this area. We also welcome and support the effective implementation of the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance. In particular, we look forward to the development of the assessment methodology of the Principles.

Tax and Transparency

Steady, consistent and concerted implementation of the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) package is critical to restore public trust in tax systems and to achieve a global level playing field for all engaged in economic activities. We remain committed to lead the process by example. To ensure widespread implementation of the BEPS package, we encourage all relevant and interested countries and jurisdictions to commit to implement the BEPS package and join the new inclusive framework, noting that the first meeting will be held in Kyoto in June.

To restore public trust in tax systems by enhancing transparency of tax information, we reaffirm G20’s call on all relevant countries including all financial centers and jurisdictions to implement the standard on automatic exchange of information by committed deadline and to sign the Multilateral Convention, as well as the request to the OECD to establish the “objective criteria to identify non-cooperative jurisdictions with respect to tax transparency.” These actions, together with possible defensive measures to be considered against non-cooperative jurisdictions, will help ensure that all relevant countries and financial centers are committed to implementing the agreed standard of tax transparency.

We recognize that strengthening capacity of developing countries in tax policy and administration is indispensable to level the global playing field. To enhance both quantity and quality of assistances in this area, we are committed to the principles of the Addis Tax Initiative along with encouraging other countries to make a similar commitment, and we request that the Platform for Collaboration on Tax be actively utilized to provide an opportunity where developing and developed countries and relevant organizations can share information and knowledge on a regular basis.

Improving the transparency of the beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements is vital to prevent misuse of these entities and arrangements for corruption, tax evasion, terrorist financing and money laundering. We commit to the implementation of the international standards on transparency, and call on all jurisdictions to do so. In this respect, we look forward to the initial proposals of the Financial Action Task Force and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes on ways to improve the implementation of the international standards, including on the availability of beneficial ownership information and its international exchange, to be presented by the October meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

Trade

Trade and investment are key drivers of growth, the prosperity of our people and the achievement of sustainable development worldwide. It enables us to access a broad range of goods and services, enhances competitiveness thereby inviting investment and leads to job creation and improved living standards. We continue to strive for better application of internationally recognized labor, social and environmental standards in global supply chains.

We are committed to using trade to create economic opportunities for workers, consumers and firms. In such a highly interconnected global economy, protectionism only delivers negative consequences. We reaffirm our commitment to keep our markets open and to fight all forms of protectionism including through standstill and rollback. We remain committed to reducing barriers to trade and investment and to improving competitiveness by liberalizing our economies. We recognize the importance of ensuring a level playing field in all areas including officially supported export credit and in this regard, we reiterate our support for the International Working Group to develop guidelines for publicly supported export finance and encourage all participating parties to press for substantive progress through active engagement.

We recognize the negative impact of global excess capacity across industrial sectors, especially steel, on our economies, trade and workers. In particular, we are concerned about subsidies and other support by governments and government-supported institutions that distort the market and contribute to global excess capacity, including such supports granted to overseas expansion of the capacity. We are committed to moving quickly in taking steps to address this issue by enhancing market function, including through coordinated actions that identify and seek to eliminate such subsidies and support, and by encouraging adjustment. In this regard, we are prepared to consult with other major producing countries, utilizing venues such as OECD and other fora, and, as necessary and consistent with the WTO rules and disciplines, to consider the broad range of trade policy instruments and actions to enforce our rights. Our experts will continue to coordinate actions, working with other countries affected by this issue.

We underline that the rules-based multilateral trading system, which is embodied in the WTO, has helped to create a strong and prosperous world economy. We continue to strengthen the functions of the WTO, including on negotiation, dispute settlement and monitoring. We welcome the successful conclusion of the Nairobi Ministerial Conference, and in order to solidify our achieved outcomes in the recent Ministerial Conferences, call for a swift entry into force of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) by the end of 2016 and its full implementation, including through a coordinated approach to Aid for Trade, and the implementation of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) expansion as agreed. We aim to conclude an ambitious Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) that eliminates tariffs on a broad range of environmental products by the G20 Summit in September in Hangzhou, having in mind a future oriented agreement. We also look forward to concluding negotiations on an ambitious, balanced and mutually beneficial Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) by the end of 2016. At the same time, we promote forward-looking post-Nairobi discussions with our partners in various fora, addressing outstanding and new issues as well as new formats of negotiations. We call on all WTO members to engage constructively and with sense of urgency to restart negotiations in Geneva, so that the WTO meets the needs of the private sector including SMEs and other stakeholders, as digital technologies and Global Value Chains transform the global movement of goods, services and investment. As an increasing number of developing countries have started to benefit from this changing environment, we recognize the need to shed a new light on the positive role of trade on growth and development, and we look forward to useful work by the OECD and other international organizations.

As a useful complement and a building block to the multilateral trading system, we encourage trade liberalization efforts in various forms. The signing of the TPP is an important step forward for the establishment of a platform for common trade rules and trade integration across the Asia-Pacific region, and we encourage each TPP signatory to complete its domestic process. We welcome the strong commitment of Japan and the EU to reach agreement in principle on a comprehensive, high-level and balanced Japan-EU EPA as early as possible in 2016. We are committed to applying the necessary political will to reach a TTIP agreement as early as this year, provided that it is ambitious, comprehensive, high standard and mutually beneficial, with a view to harnessing the full potential of the transatlantic economy as soon as possible. We welcome the shared commitment of Canada and the EU to sign CETA this year. We encourage Canada and the EU to bring CETA into force as early as possible.

Infrastructure

The global demand-supply gap of infrastructure investment is a serious bottleneck to the current growth including job creation and development challenges the world faces. While recognizing that effective mobilization of resources in quantity is imperative, we highlight that investment without the quality perspective could end up introducing infrastructure with higher lifecycle costs, less durability, inequitable distributive effects, highly negative environmental and social impacts, vulnerability against natural disasters and the impacts of climate change. We therefore reaffirm the crucial importance for stakeholders, including governments, international organizations and the private sector, to work coherently to bridge the existing gaps by promoting quality infrastructure investment, so as  to promote strong, sustainable, and balanced growth, with an important contribution to productivity gains, and to enhance resilience in our society, as well as to contribute to the global efforts to advance sustainable development by addressing development challenges including those identified in the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

To promote such quality infrastructure investment, we strive to align our own infrastructure investment with the G7 Ise-Shima Principles for Promoting Quality Infrastructure Investment, as set out in the Annex. We further encourage the relevant stakeholders, namely governments, international organizations, including MDBs, and the private sector, such as in PPP projects, to align their infrastructure investment and assistance with the Principles, including the introduction and promotion of a transparent, competitive procurement process that takes full account of value for money and quality of infrastructure.

Health

We highlight that health is the foundation of prosperity and security not only for individuals but also for nations. At the juncture of the first G7 summit after the historic adoption of the 2030 Agenda, we are fully committed to implementing the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) therein that ensure well-being at all stages and health security for all individuals, and foster inclusive economic growth for nations. Our leadership is needed more than ever in this regard. UHC provides a comprehensive framework that underpins all of the health targets. To achieve UHC, health systems need to be strong, resilient, sustainable and responsive to the current and future needs of the populations they serve. This includes, but is not limited to, promoting women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ mental and physical health, ensuring sexual and reproductive health and rights without discrimination of any kind, and addressing malnutrition as well as communicable and non-communicable diseases, including those due to environmental factors and ageing.

Learning lessons from the Ebola outbreak, especially through the wisdom offered by a wide-range of experts across the globe, including the work of the UN High-Level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises, we recognize that health systems need to be resilient and have the capacity to respond to, better prepare for and prevent global public health threats such as pandemics and other severe events. Prompt and effective responses to public health emergencies will also require World Health Organization (WHO) reforms, funding mechanisms that enable speedy disbursement for prompt response, coordinated implementation of action among relevant stakeholders and systems, and better implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR).

We note that the efforts and achievements toward UHC, health system strengthening (HSS) and preparing and responding to public health emergencies are further jeopardized by the significant threat posed by AMR. We also acknowledge the importance and contribution of R&D and innovation to preserve and deploy existing remedies, and to discover new remedies for these and other health areas, such as neglected tropical diseases and poverty related infectious diseases as well as conditions related to ageing.

With these in mind, we particularly commit to take concrete actions in the following areas as elaborated in the G7 Ise-Shima Vision for Global Health, as set out in the Annex. We also instruct our Health Ministers to further elaborate necessary actions on these areas at their Meeting in Kobe in September.

Reinforcing of the Global Health Architecture to strengthen response to public health emergencies

Recognizing the Ebola outbreak turned into a major epidemic partly due to the lack of swift and coordinated actions among relevant stakeholders, we commit to take leadership in reinforcing the Global Health Architecture, relying on strengthening existing organizations.

We reaffirm the WHO’s central role in that architecture to enable and support more swift, effective and coordinated responses to public health emergencies. In this light, we urge and support the WHO to implement its emergency and wider reforms, including its One WHO approach across the three levels of the Organization, namely its headquarters, regional and country offices, in a timely manner, recognizing its resource needs. We also highlight the vital importance of adequate, responsible and timely disbursement of financial resources to ensure appropriate response to public health emergencies. In this connection, we call on the international community to support the Contingency Fund for Emergency (CFE) to enable swift initial responses by the WHO. Further, to support a surge response by governments, multilateral agencies and NGOs, we welcome the World Bank’s formal announcement of launching the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), and invite the international community including G7 members to extend technical support and financial contributions to this end. We also call upon relevant international organizations to ensure coordination among the PEF and their related funding mechanisms including the CFE.

We commend the WHO for accelerating efforts to lead coordination among relevant partners in large-scale outbreaks and public health emergencies, considering its central role particularly in infectious diseases and the need for continuous, predictable, rapid and efficient response throughout the development of outbreaks from small- to large-scale and into public health emergencies, leveraging existing coordination structures, particularly the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). We invite the WHO and OCHA under the UN Secretary General (UNSG) to review, strengthen and formalize coordination arrangement among the WHO, the UN and other relevant partners, and to update the G7 Health Ministers on the progress in September.

Recent outbreaks of Ebola and Zika underscore the imperative to improve prevention of, detection of and response to public health emergencies, whether naturally occurring, deliberate or accidental. In that respect, we remain committed to advancing compliance with the WHO’s IHR objectives including through the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). We renew our support to a coordinated approach to offer concrete assistance to 76 countries and regions and support to these partners to develop national plans in close coordination with the WHO and other relevant organizations. Recognizing the primary responsibility of countries to strengthen their IHR core capacities, we intend to assist these partners to achieve the common and measurable targets of the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool published by the WHO and in partnership with other organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). We also commit to support, undergo, and share such evaluations with our partners. In order to scale up the implementation of the IHR and in line with its implementation of the new Health Emergencies Program, we encourage the WHO to consider building on already existing structures, such as the Department of Global Capacities, Alert and Response and its Lyon office, and the emerging work of the Alliance for Country Assessment for Global Health Security. We recognize the importance of mobilizing financial resources of the relevant international organizations for strengthening preparedness for and prevention of pandemics, and look forward to discussing on the matter with those organizations, including the World Bank such as International Development Association.

Attaining of UHC with strong health systems and better preparedness

Recognizing the importance of accelerating achievement of UHC with the principle of no one left behind, we reiterate our commitment to enhance our support and coordination to strengthen health systems, especially in developing countries, to make them more resilient, inclusive, affordable, sustainable, and equitable ones. To this end, we emphasize the need for a strengthened international framework to coordinate the efforts and expertise of all relevant stakeholders and various fora / initiatives at the international level, including disease-specific efforts. In this connection, we support the establishment of UHC 2030 that seeks to ensure the International Health Partnership (IHP+) principles and is supported by initiatives such as the Roadmap Healthy Systems, Healthy Lives. We look forward to discussions with the UNSG about the idea of nominating an envoy to promote and catalyze efforts towards UHC across different sectors. We affirm that enhancing prevention of and preparedness for public health emergencies, including through strengthening IHR core capacities, is expected to be part of HSS efforts.

Meanwhile, taking into consideration the pressing need for HSS in Low Income Countries (LICs) and Lower Middle Income Countries (LMICs) where health systems are especially weak, we are also committed to support country-led HSS in collaboration with relevant partners including the WHO. In relation to this, while stressing the need of coordination with the WHO and other relevant international organizations, we welcome the World Bank’s endeavor to promote UHC for Africa. We are committed to ending AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, working in partnership with the Global Fund (GF) and others. To this end, we fully support a successful 5th replenishment of the GF, taking the opportunity of the GF replenishment conference in Montreal in September, and call on traditional and new donors to support the replenishment.

The promotion of UHC also requires provision of services to protect and improve the health of all individuals throughout their life course. As a part of such efforts and focusing on the areas where urgent responses are needed along with the rapid demographic changes, we continue to take leadership in promoting the health of women and girls, adolescents and children, including through efforts to provide access to sexual and reproductive health, rights and services, immunization, better nutrition, and needs-based responses in emergencies and disasters. In this regard, we welcome platforms such as the Global Financing Facility for Every Woman Every Child, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, and Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, and reaffirm our continued commitment to reaching polio eradication targets. We also commit to promoting active ageing, with due consideration to gender specific aspects, through multi-sectoral approaches including the promotion of age-friendly communities and support for communities to become dementia-friendly. To this end, we share knowledge and experiences, and encourage developing countries including through the forum on active ageing to be held in Japan this year. We recognize the rising challenges of promoting a positive environment for innovative research and development, encouraging access to medicines and health care, and ensuring the sustainability of health systems, and we welcome an exchange of views on these issues at the upcoming G7 Health Ministers' meeting, recognizing the uniqueness of national circumstances, priorities, and health system designs.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

Good progress has been made to combat AMR including the adoption of WHO Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance and relevant resolutions by FAO and the OIE, but more needs to be done. Building on the G7’s previous commitment, we commit to make collective efforts for strengthening and actively implementing a multi-sectoral One Health Approach, taking into account the sectors including human and animal health, agriculture, food and the environment. We particularly endeavor to preserve effectiveness of antimicrobials, including by preserving existing antibiotics, to strengthen the inter-sectoral surveillance in all sectors, and to improve access to effective antimicrobials through accelerated support in cooperation with other countries and private sector partners. Recognizing the need for addressing market failure in which pharmaceutical companies are not producing new diagnostics and drugs required to combat infectious diseases in the face of AMR, we also commit to consider potential for new incentives to promote R&D on AMR and call on the international community to take further action. Against those backdrops, we are committed to support the 2016 High-Level Meeting on AMR at the UN General Assembly that promotes effective implementation of the Global Action Plan through multi-sectoral global, regional, national, and community collaborative efforts, and recognize existing initiatives, such as those highlighted in the EU Ministerial One Health Conference on AMR, the Tokyo Meeting of Health Ministers on AMR in Asia, and the GHSA AMR Action Package.

Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality

We emphasize that the empowerment of women and girls and gender equality are indispensable for their equal participation as agents of change in the economic, social and political spheres of our societies. Globally, women and girls still face barriers and discrimination that prevent them from realizing their full potential. We also affirm the importance of promoting and protecting women’s rights, and recognize the role of women as key actors to ensure peace and security including when addressing the threat of violent extremism, the ongoing displacement crisis and protracted conflicts and disasters. Therefore, it remains the G7’s goal to create societies where all women and girls are empowered and actively engaged for sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth and peace and where their human rights are universally respected and protected. With this strong conviction in mind, we are committed to take leadership in gender-responsive approaches to implementing the SDGs and addressing climate change, and envision mainstreaming gender equality throughout the SDGs and in every policy area, ensuring that our national policies and public financial management to promote equity, gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment. We especially emphasize the following three areas today: empowering women and girls, including through capacity-building; promoting the active role of women in STEM fields; and making concrete progress in the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

Empowering women and girls to realize their full potential

Building upon the outcomes of the past G7 Summits, the G7 Forum for Dialogue with Women and the World Assembly for Women (WAW!), we are determined to ensure women’s equal rights, full and effective participation, equal pay for equal work, and equal opportunities for leadership, while calling for active engagement of the private sector, including through our efforts to promote the Women’s

Empowerment Principles (WEPs) of UN Women. We also endorse the mission of the UN’s High Level Panel (HLP) on Women’s Economic Empowerment. We reiterate our commitment to expanding opportunities for women and girls by building their capacity including through quality education and training, and supporting women and girls to realize their full potential. To translate such commitments into actions, we endorse common guiding principles set out in the Annex, the G7 Guiding Principles for Capacity Building of Women and Girls: towards Sustainable, Inclusive and Equitable Growth and Peace, that builds on the SDGs in the area of gender equality, health and education. We invite other interested countries to join us in these commitments.

Promoting the active role of women in STEM fields and careers

We recognize that a critical determinant of global competitiveness is human talent, and that promoting the active role of women in STEM fields and careers broadens the talent pool and enhances creativity and innovation which leads to economic growth and productivity. We aim to improve women’s access to higher-paying jobs and to reduce gender wage gaps. Despite such benefits, while the number of women graduates in STEM fields is increasing, the share of women employed in STEM careers has shown little change in the last decade. We emphasize that, in addition to education and training, it is important to remove the gender bias that women encounter, promote institutional change and create legal and policy environments which effectively advance gender equality in those careers. In this light, we launch a G7 initiative, Women’s Initiative in Developing STEM Career (WINDS), to catalyze global momentum to promote the advancement of women in STEM fields and careers, in partnership with the OECD, UNWomen, and other international agencies and stakeholders.

Making concrete progress in Women, Peace and Security

We are appalled by the increase in gender-based violence in all its forms including sexual violence, in conflict and post-conflict situations, when fleeing a conflict or when migrating, as well as during and in the aftermath of natural disasters. We therefore reaffirm the importance of tackling all forms of gender based violence including in our societies, supporting those affected and holding perpetrators to account with the aim to address the culture of impunity, while making all efforts to prevent sexual and gender-based violence. We are also committed to work with the UN and others to advance the Women, Peace and Security agenda. In this connection, we call on all states to support full implementation of the UNSG’s zero tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and of the UN Security Council resolution 2272. We highlight the importance of women’s active and meaningful participation in conflict prevention and resolution, mediation, peacekeeping, humanitarian response, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction consistent with the UN Security Council resolution 1325 and its subsequent resolutions. We therefore call upon all states to implement the commitments they made at last year’s UN Security Council High Level Review of SCR 1325, and remain committed to supporting efforts by other countries, both financially and technically, to establish and implement National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security or similar gender-equality related strategies.

Moreover, recognizing the underrepresentation of women among international conflict mediators, we commit to increasing the number of women in such positions.

Cyber

We strongly support an accessible, open, interoperable, reliable and secure cyberspace as one essential foundation for economic growth and prosperity. This also enhances the common values of the G7, such as freedom, democracy and respect for privacy and human rights. We will take decisive and robust measures in close cooperation against malicious use of cyberspace, both by states and non-state actors, including terrorists. We reaffirm that international law is applicable in cyberspace. We commit to promote a strategic framework of international cyber stability consisting of the applicability of existing international law to state behavior in cyberspace, the promotion of voluntary norms of responsible state behavior during peacetime, and the development and the implementation of practical cyber confidence building measures between states. In this context, we welcome the report of the UN Group of Governmental Experts in 2015 and call upon all states to be guided by the assessments and recommendations of the report. We also reaffirm that no country should conduct or knowingly support ICT-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to its companies or commercial sectors. We commit to facilitate the free flow of information to ensure openness, transparency and freedom of the Internet, and a fair and equal access to the cyberspace for all actors of digital economy while respecting privacy and data protection, as well as cyber security. We commit to the protection and promotion of human rights online. We commit to promote a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance which includes full and active participation by governments, the private sector, civil society, the technical community, and international organizations, among others. We recognize that states have particular responsibilities and roles in the ICT environment, just as elsewhere to promote security, stability and prosperity. We commit to collaborate to maximize the potential of the digitally connected world, and to address global challenges, bridge digital divides, realize inclusive development, and to achieve progress on the 2030 Agenda. We endorse the G7 Principles and Actions on Cyber, as set out in the Annex to promote and protect an open, interoperable, reliable and secure cyberspace. We decide to establish a new G7 working group on cyber to enhance our policy coordination and practical cooperation to promote security and stability in cyberspace.

Anti-Corruption

Corruption is fundamentally contrary to our common values, in particular, the rule of law, democracy and fair competition. We reiterate that our collective and individual action to fight corruption is critical for economic growth, sustainable development and maintaining peace and security. Recognizing the magnitude of the global problem of corruption, we endorse the G7 Action to Fight Corruption, as set out in the Annex, which demonstrates our renewed commitment to fight corruption and ensure transparency worldwide. We will promote the effective implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), as well as other key international instruments such as the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and will promote full participation in their respective review mechanisms. We welcome the outcomes and the momentum created by the Anti-Corruption Summit hosted by the United Kingdom in May to galvanize action against corruption in the international community, as well as valuable initiatives such as the Open Government Partnership, the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), and the UN Global Compact. We commit to lead by example in moving the global anti-corruption agenda forward including in other international fora.

Foreign Policy

Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism

We strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and manifestations. The attacks, atrocities and abuses of human rights targeting civilians and other victims perpetrated by ISIL/Da’esh, Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations pose serious challenges to peace and international security, as well as to common values and principles for all humanity. We take note, with grave concern, of the growing number of terror attacks, especially those aimed at vulnerable sites due to their open access and limited security barriers as well as cultural property. The Internet and social media have been exploited throughout the world for terrorist, violent extremist and other criminal purposes, such as terrorist recruiting and financing, attack planning and coordination. Aviation security is also a global challenge that requires all countries to ensure implementation of appropriate and sustainable security measures that can evolve to respond to the terrorist threat.

We reiterate that it is essential for the international community to make further collective and coordinated efforts to fight this urgent global security threat. We stress the importance of continued cooperation with the private sector, civil society and communities and the “whole-of-society” approach.

We commend the intensive counterterrorism efforts that have already been made globally, regionally, bilaterally and domestically. We emphasize the importance of filling gaps and accelerating such existing efforts and reaffirm that the G7, as a catalyst for global progress, can play a leading role in promoting effective implementation of counterterrorism measures in cooperation with  the international community in a manner fully compliant with international human rights obligations. We continue to work together to prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters and terrorism-related materials and equipment. We reassert our commitment to countering terrorist financing as declared in the G7 Action Plan on Combatting the Financing of Terrorism at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meeting in Sendai.

The payment of ransoms to terrorist groups is one of the sources of income which supports their recruitment efforts, strengthens their operational capability to organize and carry out terrorist attacks, and incentivizes future incidents of kidnapping for ransom, thereby increasing the risks to our nationals. We unequivocally reiterate our resolve not to pay ransoms to terrorists, to protect the lives of our nationals and, in accordance with relevant international conventions, to reduce terrorist groups’ access to the funding that allows them to survive and thrive, and call on all states to do so.

We commit to promote peaceful co-existence wherever differences of opinion, culture and faith exist, respect for diversity, tolerance, and inclusive dialogue in order to break the vicious cycle of violence and hatred and to prevent the emergence and spread of violent extremism. In this regard, we welcome the UNSG’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, call for its implementation and support a strong model of UN leadership which will deliver a genuinely whole-of-UN approach. We also stress the importance of the role of local communities, especially women and youth, as well as empowerment of alternative voices including through education and dialogue.

We also commit to enhance our coordination to support countries in need of building their capacity on countering terrorism and violent extremism.

Committing ourselves to translate these principles into concrete action, we commit to take actions as set out in the Annex, the G7 Action Plan on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism. We commit to work to support the implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, to bolster information sharing, to strengthen border security, to improve aviation security, to counter terrorist financing, to fight against trafficking of cultural properties, to prevent and counter violent extremism, to step up our engagement with the private sector and to further coordinate our capacity building assistance. We commit to regularly take stock of the implementation of the Action Plan.

Migration and Refugee crisis

With the number of refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and vulnerable migrants at its highest level since the Second World War, the G7 recognizes the ongoing large scale movements of migrants and refugees as a global challenge which requires a global response, in full respect for human rights and in accordance with applicable international law. We place the highest priority on humanely and effectively managing this challenge, addressing both the humanitarian consequences and the root causes of massive displacement. Large movements of people are a multi-faceted phenomenon, which requires addressing its root causes resulting from conflicts, state fragility and insecurity, demographic, economic and environmental trends as well as natural disasters. The  international  community  should  therefore  increase  its  efforts  towards  conflict  prevention, stabilization, and post-conflict peacebuilding and focus on finding solutions in order to reduce poverty, promote peace, good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights, support inclusive economic growth and improve the delivery of basic services.

We commit to increase global assistance to meet immediate and longer-term needs of refugees and other displaced persons as well as their host communities, via humanitarian, financial, and development assistance, cooperation, as well as other measures to support trade and investment consistent with our international obligations, recognizing the necessity of closer collaboration between humanitarian, development and other actors. We aim to increase the socio-economic development of affected regions, notably regarding education, health care, infrastructure, and promotion of human rights and equal opportunities. We recognize the importance of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda regarding effective migration management, and we commit to strengthen our development cooperation with our partner countries, with special attention to African, Middle East and neighboring countries of origin and transit.

The G7 encourages international financial institutions and bilateral donors to bolster their financial and technical assistance for refugees and other displaced persons as well as their host communities and welcomes, in particular, the launch of New Financing Initiative to Support the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. We also call for close coordination with existing facilities and funding mechanisms, such as the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (‘Madad Fund’), the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey, and the EU Trust Fund for Africa. We stress the importance of increasing support to the most affected host countries, such as Jordan, Lebanon and Kenya, and continue close cooperation with Turkey, which will help deliver the outcomes of the London Conference on Supporting Syria and the Region. The Syrian crisis has underlined the need for the international community to be better equipped to assist developing countries of all income levels and across all regions in addressing cases of protracted displacements. Increasing global support for relevant international humanitarian and emergency relief organizations, such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme, and UN Children’s Rights and Emergency Relief Organization (UNICEF), is vital.

We call for the adoption of wide-range and long-term strategies and instruments to tackle the root causes of the surge of economic migration and refugee flows. We recognize that there is a need for tools that assist countries in providing sustainable livelihoods for refugees and other displaced persons as well as their host communities, through financing and technical advice to support access to jobs, education, health services, and basic infrastructure. Along with other World Bank shareholders, we ask the World Bank to develop a new platform that expands its toolkit to assist countries hosting refugees. We also welcome that the European Investment Bank is exploring options to develop a long-term crisis response initiative in support of sustainable growth, vital infrastructure and social cohesion in the Mediterranean region and Africa.

Legal channels for migration will be enhanced consistently with national and regional frameworks in tandem with addressing irregular migration. The G7 encourages the temporary admission of refugees and the establishment of resettlement schemes, to alleviate pressure on countries hosting the largest numbers of refugees. Recognizing the contribution made by existing initiatives, work to expand resettlement opportunities and other forms of safe and legal humanitarian admission for refugees should continue. We commit to assist the front-line states in creating education and employment opportunities for refugees in order to empower them as future assets contributing to the stability and prosperity of host communities and the reconstruction of home countries after their return.

The G7 supports the strengthening of the international protection approaches through promoting the core principles of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol, and by providing safe haven for those fleeing persecution. It is also clear, however, that protection frameworks should not be used to bypass legitimate immigration assessment. To these ends, individuals fleeing persecution should be granted effective protection in the first safe country they enter, and governments should provide opportunities for safe and orderly resettlement processes as well as provide international humanitarian and development assistance for refugees, host countries and communities.

At the same time, we encourage cooperation with countries of origin and transit to facilitate the safe and dignified return and reintegration of migrants who are not eligible for international protection, including under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol. We are determined to continue to fight migrant smuggling and modern slavery, and protect victims of trafficking together with countries of origin, transit and destination. We call for the conclusion and full implementation of the relevant international instruments, such as the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols.

 

Further, we support UN-led efforts to strengthen the long-term capacity and effectiveness of the international system to respond to humanitarian crises, which includes: (i) increasing resources for humanitarian assistance, (ii) reducing reliance on humanitarian aid by investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction, and by seeking durable solutions  to displacement; (iii)  broadening the resource base; as well as (iv) enhancing access, efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian aid delivery systems. We also reiterate the importance of addressing the root causes of displacement, including human rights violations.

The G7 recalls that only sustainable political settlements within countries of origin, including Syria, will bring lasting solutions to the problem of forced displacement, including refugees.

We welcome the World Humanitarian Summit and look forward to the UN General Assembly Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants and the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees in New York in September.

Deauville Partnership

We reiterate our commitment to the Deauville Partnership to support the countries of the MENA in their economic and governance reform efforts.

We recognize the new challenges facing the Arab Countries in Transition (ACTs) including the rise of violent extremism, intensification of military conflicts, complex humanitarian crises and significant number of refugees. We emphasize the need for stability, democratization and inclusive economic growth. To that end, we underscore the importance of structural economic reforms, improved governance, the empowerment of women and robust civil society participation.

The Deauville Partnership remains an important platform for dialogue and cooperation with the ACTs, regional partners and relevant international institutions. We commit to promote the socio-economic role of women in the region and to convene an expert meeting on this topic. We welcome the shared commitment to implement the Deauville Compact on Economic Governance, the Action Plan for Financial Inclusion and the projects financed by the MENA Transition Fund. We recognize the importance of SME-related projects and encourage the updating of the ACT SME Action Plans. We remain committed to supporting the ACTs through country-tailored approaches.

Syria

We call on all parties and their backers to fully implement the nationwide Cessation of Hostilities achieved based on the efforts taken by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG). We condemn in the strongest terms violations of the Cessation of Hostilities, especially in and around Aleppo, by the Syrian regime and reiterate that parties must cease indiscriminate attacks on civilians. We welcome the ISSG’s commitment to intensifying its efforts to ensure that all parties stop any further indiscriminate attacks, and welcome Russia’s commitment in the Joint Statement of May 9 2016 to ‘work with the Syrian authorities to minimize aviation operations over areas predominantly inhabited by civilians or parties to the cessation’. We expect Russia and Iran to urge the regime to comply with renewed cessation and to stop its attacks directed at civilians, and urge all parties to the cessation to abide by the terms of the cessation. We urge all members of the international community and parties to the conflict to fully implement all relevant UN Security Council resolutions, particularly 2254, 2258 and 2268 to support the efforts by the UN Special Envoy, and to commit to an inclusive and peaceful political transition in Syria based on the Geneva Communiqué. We welcome the ISSG’s clear reiteration of the objective that, by the target date of August 1 2016 as established by UN Security Council resolution 2254, the parties reach agreement on a framework for a genuine political transition, which would include a broad, inclusive, non-sectarian transitional governing body with full executive powers.

We express our grave concern at the deterioration of the humanitarian situation and call on all parties, notably the Syrian regime, to immediately allow humanitarian agencies rapid, safe, unhindered and sustained access in Syria, in particular the besieged areas and hard to reach places, as well as to release all arbitrarily detained persons, including women and children. We welcome the ISSG’s commitment that, starting June 1 2016, if the UN is denied humanitarian access to any of the designated besieged areas, the World Food Program should immediately carry out a program of air bridges and air drops for all areas in need. We are committed to supporting displaced persons and their host communities and to working towards a long-term, sustainable post-conflict stabilization and rehabilitation of Syria and to eradicating conditions conducive to violent extremism.

We express grave concern over the findings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) regarding the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Practical and political support for the OPCW and for the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism is essential to identify and hold to account those involved in chemical weapons use in Syria.

Iraq

We commit our continued support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and the Iraqi people, as well as the Iraqi government’s efforts to accelerate political and economic reforms and enhance national reconciliation. We commend Iraqi forces’ efforts in their fight against ISIL/Da’esh. We call on the international community to continue to support the government of Iraq, including by extending humanitarian assistance and supporting stabilization efforts in areas liberated from ISIL/Da’esh. We also commit to provide, and expedite as appropriate, support for Iraq’s efforts to address its fiscal challenge and strengthen its economy through reforms, in coordination with the IMF and other international financial institutions. It is  critical that all Iraqis, including the Iraqi Kurdistan region, benefit from this support. In this context, the G7 is mobilizing more than 3.6 billion USD in bilateral assistance and other financial support to complement support from the international financial institutions.

Iran

We reaffirm our commitment to actively support the full and effective implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The lifting of nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions as provided for in the JCPOA represents an opportunity for Iran to reengage with the global community. We call on Iran to play a constructive role in its region and thus contribute to the efforts to achieve political solutions, reconciliation and peace, and cooperate to prevent and counter the spread of terrorism and violent extremism. We are deeply concerned by Iran’s decision to proceed with the testing of ballistic missiles inconsistent with UN Security Council resolution 2231. We further call on Iran to comply with its international human rights obligations.

North Korea

We condemn in the strongest terms North Korea’s nuclear test in January and its subsequent launches using ballistic missile technology.  These acts violate multiple UN  Security Council resolutions and pose a grave threat to regional and international peace and security. We demand that North Korea immediately and fully comply with all relevant UN Security Council resolutions and its commitments under the 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks, and not conduct any further nuclear tests, launches, or engage in any other destabilizing or provocative actions. We call on the international community to fully implement and enforce relevant UN Security Council resolutions. We also deplore the human rights violations in North Korea and strongly urge North Korea to immediately address the international community’s concerns, including the abductions issue.

Ukraine/Russia

We stand united in our conviction that the conflict in Ukraine can only be solved by diplomatic means and in full respect for international law, especially the legal obligation to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. We reiterate our condemnation of the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia and reaffirm our policy of its non-recognition and sanctions against those involved.

We are concerned by continued violence along the line of contact in violation of the ceasefire; we urge all sides to take concrete steps that will lead to the complete ceasefire required under the Minsk agreements. We also urge all sides to fulfill their commitments without delay with a view to holding local elections in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as soon as possible in accordance with the Minsk agreements. We emphasize our strongest support for full implementation of the Minsk agreements and the work of the Normandy format and the Trilateral Contact Group. We expect Russia to live up to its commitments and use its influence over the separatists to meet their commitments in full. We stress the OSCE's key role in helping to deescalate the crisis, and we call upon all sides, particularly the separatists, to provide the organization’s monitors full and unfettered access throughout the conflict zone.

We recall that the duration of sanctions is clearly linked to Russia’s complete implementation of the Minsk agreements and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty. Sanctions can be rolled back when Russia meets these commitments. However, we also stand ready to take further restrictive measures in order to increase cost on Russia should its actions so require. We recognize the importance of maintaining dialogue with Russia in order to ensure it abides by the commitments it has made as well as international law and to reach a comprehensive, sustainable and peaceful solution to the crisis.

We commend and support the steps Ukraine is taking to implement comprehensive structural, governance and economic reforms and encourage Ukraine to continue and accelerate the process. We urge Ukraine to maintain and enhance the momentum in its fight against corruption and its judicial reform, including the Prosecutor General’s office. We are fully committed to providing long-term support to this end. We also commend the work of the Ukraine support group of G7 Ambassadors in Kyiv.

We reaffirm our commitment to undertake joint efforts with Ukraine to convert the Chernobyl site into a stable and environmentally safe condition, 30 years after the catastrophe.

Libya

We welcome the decree of the Presidential Council authorizing the ministers of the Government of National Accord (GNA) to assume duties and take control over their ministries, pending the taking of the official oath. We will work closely with the GNA as the sole legitimate government of Libya and call on all Libyan parties to recognize its authority and implement the Libyan Political Agreement. We stand ready to offer support to the GNA to help restore peace, security and prosperity, and address the dire humanitarian suffering. We express our full support to United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General Kobler’s continued efforts to facilitate the full implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement. We remain deeply concerned about the growing terrorist threat, trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants and arms in Libya. We urge all Libyan parties and security forces to work quickly to implement a unified command in coordination with the GNA and in accordance with the Libyan Political Agreement to fight ISIL/Da’esh. We support the sole and effective oversight of the GNA over the Libyan financial institutions and the Libyan National Oil Corporation, ensuring that they function for the benefit of all Libyans. We express concern about activities which could damage the integrity and unity of such institutions, and condemn all attempts to illicitly export crude oil from Libya. We reaffirm our commitment to upholding the arms embargo, in accordance with applicable UN Security Council resolutions while fully supporting the GNA’s intention to submit appropriate arms embargo exemption requests to the UN Libya Sanctions Committee to procure necessary lethal arms and materiel to counter UN-designated terrorist groups and to combat ISIL/Da’esh throughout the country.

Afghanistan

We stand firm in our longstanding commitment to Afghanistan and its people and our continuing support for the government, as it counters terrorism and undertakes reforms. We remain concerned by the threat to security and stability in Afghanistan, and strongly support efforts toward establishing an Afghan-led peace process. We look forward to joining other members of the international community at the NATO Warsaw Summit in July and the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan in October which will be important opportunities for Afghanistan to reconfirm its commitments toward continued reforms, and for the international community to renew political, security and development assistance commitments to Afghanistan.

Middle East Peace Process

We urge both sides to avoid further escalation, including measures which could threaten the two-state solution and strongly support international efforts to work towards a negotiated solution including the efforts undertaken by the Middle East Quartet. We welcome the upcoming ministerial conference in Paris.

Yemen

We call on all parties to work towards an inclusive, peaceful solution that will end the conflict in Yemen, including a resumption of the political transition, in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and the rebuilding of the Yemeni economy. We fully support the efforts of UN Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to facilitate ongoing peace talks in Kuwait, to end the violence in Yemen and to urge all parties to comply fully with the ceasefire. We underline the necessity of all parties taking immediate steps to enable rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all areas of the country.

Africa

We are convinced that stability, security, inclusive and accountable governance, as well as economic growth and diversification remain the foundations of long-term prosperity and sustainable development in Africa. We recognize the strides made by many African partners in these areas and welcome the successful political transitions in the Central African Republic and in Burkina Faso, as well as the recent positive developments in Mali and South Sudan. We also welcome the growing coordination between African partners to counter terrorism and violent extremism, especially in the Lake Chad Basin, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. We commit to sustain and deepen the support we pledged to Nigeria in 2015, including on its efforts to tackle corruption, improve governance, strengthen its economy, and defeat violent extremism in all its forms. We also recognize the need to address both the immediate and the root causes of current challenges and the significant obstacles that remain, including persistent instability and serious humanitarian situations in Sudan, the Lake Chad Basin, South Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and Burundi as well as corruption and the lack of economic diversification in the region. We thus continue to support African and regional organizations’ efforts to address these issues, including to prevent and resolve conflicts, strengthen democratic institutions, fight against trafficking in persons, manage irregular migration, combat the illicit transfer of conventional arms, create jobs for the youth, expose and tackle corruption, and promote sustainable development and resilience, emphasizing the importance of African ownership of these efforts. We continue to assist the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and support the development of the Somali security forces. We also reaffirm our commitment to combating illicit wildlife trafficking and, recognizing the urgency of the situation, further reaffirm our previous commitment to the Resolution 69/314 adopted at the UN General Assembly.

Venezuela

We call on the Venezuelan government to fully respect fundamental rights, democratic processes, freedoms and the rule of law to provide access to fair trials and due process, and to establish conditions that would allow for dialogue between the government and its citizens, in order for them to find a peaceful means of resolving Venezuela’s increasingly acute economic and political crisis, while respecting the will of the people. We call on the Venezuelan executive branch and the National Assembly to work urgently together to this end.

Maritime Security

We reiterate our commitment to maintaining a rules-based maritime order in accordance with the principles of international law as reflected in UNCLOS, to peaceful dispute settlement supported by confidence building measures and including through legal means as well as to sustainable uses of the seas and oceans, and to respecting freedom of navigation and overflight. We reaffirm the importance of states’ making and clarifying their claims based on international law, refraining from unilateral actions which could increase tensions and not using force or coercion in trying to drive their claims, and seeking to settle disputes by peaceful means including through juridical procedures including arbitration.

We reaffirm the importance of strengthening maritime safety and security, in particular the fight against piracy, through international and regional cooperation.

We are concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and emphasize the fundamental importance of peaceful management and settlement of disputes.

We endorse the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on Maritime Security.

Non-Proliferation and Disarmament

We reaffirm that non-proliferation and disarmament issues are among our top priorities. We reaffirm our commitment to seeking a safer world for all and to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons in a way that promotes international stability. In this context, we endorse the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Hiroshima Declaration on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation and the Statement of the G7 Non-Proliferation Directors Group on Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. We remain committed to the universalization of the treaties and conventions relevant to, amongst others, preventing and combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in particular the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.

UN Reform and UN Peace Operations Review

We reaffirm the importance and necessity of realizing a strengthened, more effective and efficient United Nations and, to this end, note the importance of continued engagement on reforms of the United Nations, such as of the Security Council.

We also support the ongoing reform processes on UN peace operations and peacebuilding activities, and call for further efforts to advance these processes by Member States, the UN system and relevant international and regional partners. We welcome and urge timely implementation of the pledges made at the Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping.

Human Rights

We commit our support to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all people, peaceful pluralism and respect for diversity. We recall that compliance with obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law is a cornerstone for peace and security. We reaffirm the importance of the independent voice of human rights defenders and other civil society actors, as well as of partnerships between states and civil society in the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedom.

Nuclear Safety and Security

We welcome the report of the Nuclear Safety and Security Group. Five years after the Fukushima Daiichi accident, we reaffirm our commitment to achieving and maintaining the highest levels of nuclear safety worldwide and call upon all states with nuclear power programs and every stakeholder engaged in international nuclear cooperation including transfers to promote robust safety standards and infrastructures. In this regard, full participation in multilateral cooperation frameworks for nuclear safety, including the Convention on Nuclear Safety, is essential and we call upon all stakeholders for their active engagement and continued enhancement of these frameworks. We also welcome the successful outcome of the fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. We will continue to prioritize the security of nuclear and other radioactive materials and will work to further strengthen the global nuclear security architecture. We will also continue our political exchanges on nuclear security, in particular at the ministerial-level IAEA International Conference on Nuclear Security.

Climate Change, Energy, Environment

Climate Change

Welcoming the historic achievement in Paris, we reaffirm not only our continuous commitment in our global efforts against climate change, but also our determination to maintain the momentum of COP21 and ensure swift and successful implementation of the Paris Agreement including the long-term aims on mitigation, adaptation, and finance. In this context, we welcome the fact that nearly every party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has signed the Paris Agreement, including all G7 members. The G7, continuing to take a leadership role, commits to taking the necessary steps to secure ratification, acceptance or approval of the agreement as soon as possible and calls on all Parties to do so striving for a goal of entry into force in 2016.

We commit to take the lead by early, transparent and robust implementation of our nationally determined contributions, and promoting increased ambition over time. We also commit to actively participate in the regular review of global stock-take progress every five years.

We also commit to formulating and communicating mid-century long-term low GHG emission development strategies well ahead of the 2020 deadline, mindful of the significance of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and of pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as well as of achieving a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of GHGs in the second half of the century.

We encourage all Parties to engage constructively in technical work with a view to agreeing upon detailed rules for the effective and transparent implementation of the Paris Agreement by all countries, including by the major emitters.

Recognizing that we, together with other donor countries, are making steady progress toward achieving the goal of jointly mobilizing USD 100 billion annually by 2020 in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, we continue our efforts to provide and mobilize increased climate finance from public and private sources. We encourage other countries to provide or continue to provide and mobilize climate finance, to assist developing countries with respect to mitigation and adaptation and to implement their national climate plans (NDCs). We welcome the commitments made by MDBs and development finance institutions to deliver increased levels of climate finance. We call on MDBs and development financial institutions to mainstream climate change actions across development strategies and use to the fullest extent possible their balance sheets and their capacity to mobilize private financing and other partners in support of country-led programs to meet this goal. In the context of this goal, we also emphasize our continuous commitment of mobilizing finance and promoting the transfer of appropriate technology and capacity-building to support adaptation planning and actions in the most vulnerable developing countries in response to their growing needs.

We welcome the progress to date and are ready to further promote the relevant initiatives on climate risk insurance, early warning systems and renewable energy in Africa, such as InsuResilience, CREWS and the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative. We further welcome the involvement of the private sector, subnational entities, and others through the Lima-Paris Action Agenda. We recognize that innovation is critical for an effective, long-term global response to our shared climate challenge, and intend to play a leading role in Mission Innovation. We also welcome the leadership of the private sector community in this regard. We recognize the important role of providing incentives for emission reduction activities, including tools such as domestic policies and carbon pricing. We welcome the establishment of the Carbon Market Platform and its first strategic dialogue to be held in Tokyo.

Recognizing the urgent need for effective efforts in the field of international aviation, we express our strong commitment to work together for the adoption of a Global Market-Based Measure (GMBM) in order to enable carbon neutral growth from 2020, through engaging constructive dialogue, by reaching a decision at the 39th session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly. We encourage all world leaders to join us in supporting a decision later this year.

We also recognize the importance of mitigating emissions of short-lived climate pollutants including black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and methane to help slow the rate of near-term warming. In particular, we resolve to drive down our methane emissions and further recognize the importance of adopting domestic measures.

We welcome the decision in Dubai by the Montreal Protocol parties to work to address HFCs under the Montreal Protocol, and we support adoption of an ambitious Montreal Protocol HFC phase-down amendment in 2016, and intend to provide additional support through the Multilateral Fund following adoption of an amendment for its implementation.

Given the fact that energy production and use account for around two-thirds of global GHG emissions, we recognize the crucial role that the energy sector has to play in combatting climate change. We remain committed to the elimination of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies and encourage all countries to do so by 2025.

Energy

Energy plays a crucial role in sustaining global economic growth. With this in mind, we commit to play a leading role in facilitating energy investments, and encourage relevant stakeholders, despite the increased uncertainty posed by the current energy price levels, to sustain their investments in energy sector, in particular in quality energy infrastructure and in upstream development, so that we can mitigate risks to future growth of global economy. We recognize the important role that the energy system has to play in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. In this regard, we are determined to accelerate our work towards the transition to an energy system that enables a decarbonization of the global economy. We reiterate our strong support for Mission Innovation and commit to further investments in supporting innovation in energy technologies and encouraging clean and energy efficient products, facilities and buildings, so as to ensure economic growth with reduced GHG emissions. We support the enhanced efforts on energy efficiency and use of renewable energy, including hydro, as well as other domestic resources.

We reaffirm our commitment to continuing the implementations of the energy security principles and actions decided in Brussels in 2014 and Schloss Elmau in 2015, and endorse the Kitakyushu Initiative on Energy Security for Global Growth, as well as welcome the progresses achieved in collaboration with partners including the International Energy Agency (IEA). We welcome the concrete actions to strengthen energy security for natural gas, both pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG), including Japan’s Strategy for LNG Market Development, the EU Strategy for LNG and gas storage and the gas security plan by the IEA. We reaffirm our commitment to continuous efforts in enhancing well-functioning natural gas markets with greater transparency and flexibility, including relaxation of destination clauses, development of price indices and building sufficient and resilient infrastructure with open access, as well as furthering a strategic view of the LNG supply chain at a global level. We also commit to our continuous work on enhancing cybersecurity in energy sector and strengthening our cooperation in the field of electricity security.

In the context of the ongoing crisis between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, we reiterate that energy should not be used as a means of political coercion or as a threat to security. We welcome the substantial energy policy reforms ongoing in Ukraine, and strongly urge it to pursue further ambitious reform of its energy sector. We also call for enhanced cooperation between the Ukrainian national gas transmission system operator and relevant international peers.

We welcome the steady progress on decommissioning and treatment of contaminated water at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, and Japan’s efforts to proceed in an open and transparent manner in close communication with the international community, towards developing accurate global understanding of the situation in Fukushima. In those countries that opt to use nuclear energy, it substantially contributes to the reduction of future GHG emissions and works as a base load energy source. In those countries it is also crucially important to engage the public in science-based dialogue and transparency to inform policymaking. We call upon all countries that opt to use nuclear power to ensure the highest standards of safety, security and non-proliferation including an independent and effective regulator, and to exchange their expertise and experiences. We welcome the mutual cooperation and information exchange through international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Nuclear Energy Agency, and the World Association of Nuclear Operators.

Resource Efficiency and the 3Rs

Achieving the sustainable management and efficient use of resources is addressed in the 2030 Agenda and is crucial for the protection of the environment, climate and planet. Having in mind the importance of sustainable materials management and material cycle societies, we endorse the Toyama Framework on Material Cycle. This new framework provides a common vision and a guide for future actions to deepen our efforts on resource efficiency and the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). We will continue to cooperate through the G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency. We will work with business and other stakeholders to improve resource efficiency with the aim of also fostering innovation, competitiveness, economic growth and job creation. We encourage all countries to join us in these efforts.

We reaffirm our commitment to address marine litter, recognizing that our efforts on resource efficiency and the 3Rs also contribute to the prevention and reduction of marine litter, particularly plastic, from land-based sources. Furthermore, we support scientific work to enhance global ocean observation and assessment for the science-based management, conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.

Development

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The year 2015 marked the dawn of a new era in our approach to poverty reduction and sustainable development in all countries, with the historic adoption of the 2030 Agenda, together with the Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. This agenda integrates in a balanced manner the three dimensions of sustainable development - environmental, social and economic – and applies universally to all countries. Reflecting the international community’s unwavering resolve to end poverty and transform the world into a sustainable one by 2030, leaving no one behind, the 2030 Agenda lays the foundation for a more peaceful, stable, inclusive and prosperous international community. To this end, we emphasize the integrated and indivisible nature of the 17 SDGs, being well aware that peace and security, development and respect for human rights are inter-linked and mutually reinforcing, and commit to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, domestically and internationally, in a people-centered and planet-sensitive manner. We urge all countries and stakeholders to engage in this joint endeavor under a revitalized and enhanced global partnership to ensure a multi-stakeholder approach.

We are determined to take ambitious domestic action in order to contribute substantially to the global transition to sustainable economies. In addition to our domestic actions, we commit to support developing countries’ efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda, with a particular emphasis on the dignity of individuals in vulnerable groups and promoting human security. Important elements in our collective response include: the empowerment of all women and girls and gender equality, global health, quality infrastructure investment, support for youth in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in particular, revitalized response to threats to peace and security, tackling forced displacement and modern slavery, industrial human resource development and inclusive innovation; food security and nutrition, the CONNEX initiative; support for disaster risk reduction including through World Tsunami Awareness Day, support for climate change mitigation and adaptation, energy security and sustainable energy, resource efficiency and 3Rs including addressing marine litter, sustainable forest management and eliminating illegal logging. We also welcome the World Humanitarian Summit.

We affirm our strong commitment to the timely implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development which is an integral part of the 2030 agenda, working in partnership with all stakeholders. Amongst priorities, we highlight the primary importance of domestic resource mobilization and of the creation of a favorable climate capable of stimulating domestic and external private investment, while also reaffirming the essential role that official development assistance (ODA) and other official flows (OOF) play as a catalyst for, and complement to, other sources of financing for development. In this regard, we are resolved to continue pursuing innovative partnerships and financing arrangements to advance sustainable development. We also reiterate our respective ODA commitments, such as the 0.7% ODA/GNI target, as well as our commitment to reverse the declining trend of ODA to the LDCs and to better target ODA towards countries where the needs are greatest.

We affirm that addressing challenges in Africa is central to the realization of the SDGs, recognizing that security, development, climate change and gender equality are interdependent and instrumental to ensuring a prosperous and peaceful Africa. As such, we stand ready to support the promotion of Africa’s development aspirations as described in Agenda 2063 and its First-Ten Year Implementation Plan in partnership with the African Union and its members. We do so including through our bilateral and multilateral partnerships with African countries including the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), the Italy-Africa Ministerial Conference, EU-Africa partnership and the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. We affirm that TICAD VI to be held on 27 and 28 August, 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya, for the first time in Africa comes at a critical juncture of translating the global vision into actions for Africa.

Food Security and Nutrition

Ending hunger and malnutrition is a fundamental element of the 2030 Agenda. As part of a broader effort to achieve the SDGs, we commit to engage collectively in concrete actions in collaboration with relevant partners and stakeholders towards the achievement of our aim to lift 500 million people in developing countries out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030.

Building on the G7 Broad Food Security and Nutrition Development Approach, we endorse the G7 Vision for Action on Food Security and Nutrition, which outlines collective actions in the priority areas of: (i) empowering women; (ii) improving nutrition through a people-centered approach that recognizes the diverse food security challenges people face across the rural to urban spectrum; and (iii) ensuring sustainability and resilience within agriculture and food systems. We commit to enhance synergies with relevant international initiatives.

We support the development of good practices for global food security and nutrition that are in line with the SDGs and the Paris Agreement on climate change. This could include expanding farming opportunities, revitalizing rural communities, and enhancing production, productivity, responsible investment, trade and sustainability in agriculture and food systems.

We welcome the International Symposium on Food Security and Nutrition to be held in Japan and the Nutrition for Growth Summit.

CONNEX

We commit to intensify our efforts under the CONNEX Initiative, to provide developing country partners with multi-disciplinary and concrete expertise for negotiating complex commercial contracts, focusing initially on the extractives sector. The current downturn in commodity price underlines the importance of negotiating good contracts to help developing countries secure fair revenues from their natural resources. We endorse the CONNEX Guiding Principles towards Sustainable Development, designed to facilitate the mobilization of domestic resources in developing countries, contributing to the achievement of the SDGs. We commit to align CONNEX with existing initiatives to build capacity in developing countries and to improve governance and transparency in extractives sectors. Further progress will be sought in close partnership with relevant stakeholders including through the Negotiation Support Forum established with the OECD and the CONNEX International Conference on Capacity Building and Transparency to be held in Tokyo.

G7 Accountability

We remain committed to holding ourselves to account, in an open and transparent way, for the promises we have made. We welcome the Ise-Shima Progress Report – the third comprehensive report on our development-related commitments. The Report highlights the important contribution that the G7 is making to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Positive achievements are seen in areas such as Health, Food Security, Education and Governance. We will continue to monitor progress against our commitments.

Conclusion

We look forward to meeting under the Presidency of Italy in 2017.