On G20 Summit in St.Petersburg

The G20 Leaders' Summit took place in St.Petersburg on September 5-6, 2013, crowning Russia's G20 Presidency and marking the G20's 5th anniversary at the Leaders' level. The Summit was also attended by heads of states and governments of the invited countries and heads of international organizations.

Throughout the two days of hard work, the G20 Leaders were discussing ways to ensure economic growth and financial stability, create jobs and combat unemployment, stimulate investment and promote multilateral trade, international development and anti-corruption.

The G20 Leaders took notice of the final recommendations that the Business 20, Civil 20, Labour 20, Think 20 and Youth 20 were elaborating throughout the year of Russia's Presidency. To continue and expand dialogue, the G20 Leaders met with the representatives of business community and trade unions on the sidelines of the Summit.

The program of the Summit provided for a series of top level bilateral meetings. In particular, President Vladimir Putin met with President of the Republic of Korea Park Geun-hye, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

From September 4 to 6, a number of round table discussions were held in the Summit's International Media Centre (IMC), including: "Experts' vision of the significance of the G20, G8 and BRICS for Russia"; "Issues of Development of the Global and Russian Economy on the G20 Agenda"; "G20 Initiatives to Reform the International Monetary System and Financial Regulation: Problems and Solutions"; "Fighting unemployment and creating jobs - a universal goal for the G20 countries"; and "The G20 Efforts on Fighting Protectionism and Trade Barriers."

The IMC also hosted numerous briefings, with Russian and international speakers, including Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Russian G20 Sherpa Ksenia Yudaeva, Russian Minister of Labour and Social Protection Maxim Topilin, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak, among others.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin held a final news conference on September 6 to outline the main achievements of the Group of Twenty over the last five years and the implementation of Russia's priorities under its Presidency in 2013.

In particular, Vladimir Putin spoke of the decisions and agreements that were reached during the Summit on a number of issues and incorporated in the final document, the Saint Petersburg G20 Leaders' Declaration, and in its attachments, which record the commitments and instruments for further stimulating strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth.