Deep Thoughts by Alexander Mirtchev

Ashby Monk

For a variety of reasons, SWF employees are typically quite reserved and guarded when speaking to the press. Not so for Dr. Alexander Mirtchev, who is the Independent Director and a member of the Board of Directors of Kazakhstan’s $30 billion National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna.

 

Alexander Mirtchev

In Overheard Comments, Sarkozy Calls Netanyahu a ‘Liar’

JERUSALEM — The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, told President Obama that he could no longer bear Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and went on to call Mr. Netanyahu a “liar” in a private conversation overheard by several French journalists last week at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Cannes.

G20 action needed for new global order

The next few months see a new president at the European Central Bank and a key G20 summit, both capable of seriously influencing the shape of a new global monetary order. What is needed most are wise and consistent decisions by the politicians.

It is time for them to produce a New Deal on ‘green growth’ for sustainable world development, guided by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. This needs to be backed by a new Bretton Woods system reflecting today’s realities, involving OECD as well as BRICS countries.

G20 court case draws criticism from defendants

Given the largely polarized views of police work surrounding the protests and activism at the G20 summit in Toronto last year, it shouldn’t surprise many people that a significant court case linked to that policing is now the subject of some controversy.

A preliminary hearing began this week in Toronto for 17 people facing conspiracy charges in connection with mischief at the event. Among them is Guelph activist Mandy Hiscocks.

Labelle unhappy with G20 incident

Sudbury Progressive Conservative candidate Gerry Labelle said he is not going to let the subject go.

He is still looking for an explanation from Sudbury Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci about his "involvement" in the G20 Summit of world leaders in June 2010 in Toronto.

G20 Experts to Meet on Food Security Solutions

Agricultural experts from the G20 countries will meet next week to find ways to match the latest research and technology to the growing demand for more food. It’s estimated the world’s population will grow to nine billion by 2050.

The meeting in Montpellier, France, stems from last November’s G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea. During that conference, France, Japan, Canada and Brazil were asked to focus more on food security.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants commitments at G20 summit

PARIS – French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday he wanted to see concrete commitments at a G20 summit in November on a plan to get the world economy back to healthy growth.

“What we want at Cannes is for the G20 to agree on a plan of action for growth, including precise and concrete commitments from the main economies,” Sarkozy said during an opening speech for an annual conference of French ambassadors.

Economic storm casts pall on French president's China visit

On the afternoon of Aug. 25, French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Beijing and met Chinese President Hu Jintao, and they jointly attended the evening reception. The leaders of China and France deeply discussed and communicated with each other regarding such subjects as the current global economic situation, the European debt crisis, the agendas of the G20 summit and China-France relations.

Sarkozy's current visit to China is just a short working visit on his way to visiting France's overseas territory New Caledonia, but it has attracted a lot of attention. The main reason is that the economies of France, the euro zone and the whole world are all in a dire condition.

Vice premier: China to work with France to secure success of G20 summit

BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said here Friday that China is ready to coordinate with France in pushing for the success of the Group of 20 (G20) summit to be held in Cannes in November.

"Securing the stability of the global economy and the financial market is an important prerequisite for the success of the Cannes summit," Wang said.

Court date set for officer charged in G20 assault

A Toronto police officer charged with assaulting a resident at the G20 summit last June has been scheduled to return to court Sept. 12.

Constable Glenn Weddell was not in court Thursday but was “doing fine” despite the charges, said lawyer Maureen Salama, who appeared on his behalf to set the next date.

Global banks urge G20 over supervision

Global reform of supervisory standards should be at the centre of G20 summits with "no tolerance" for jurisdictions that make an insufficient effort to improve.

The International Institute of Finance argues that the banking industry is "prepared to meet" the significant new costs that this will create and is keen to work out a code of best practice to foster the best quality of supervision on its firms.

Public inquiry needed into police bully tactics at the G20

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair just doesn't get it. Perhaps Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty get it, but they either don't care or would rather it just go away.

But what's even more concerning is that it's clear police officers -- not just in Toronto, but everywhere in Canada -- don't get it either: how the transgressions, abuses, thuggery directed at peaceful demonstrators and innocent bystanders alike at the G20 Summit a year ago and their ridiculously misplaced code of silence to protect each other from prosecution has impacted the public's perception of them.

Ont. must show more transparency after G20 secret law

TORONTO — There is a growing culture of secrecy in the provincial government which has been building for years and culminated with the "granddaddy of all secret manoeuvres" during the G20 summit, Ontario's ombudsman said Tuesday.

"The problems that my office uncovers in government, the problems that we hear about from thousands of frustrated citizens every year, almost always have to do with secrecy or lack of transparency," ombudsman Andre Marin said in his annual report.

Businesses get compensation for G8, G20 summits

By Elizabeth Thompson, iPolitics.ca

The federal government has agreed to pay nearly $2 million in compensation to businesses affected by last year's G8 and G20 summits in Ontario, iPolitics has learned.

Of that amount, $1,908,152 is for those affected by Toronto's G20 summit, which sealed off much of the city's downtown core and sparked violent clashes between police and protesters.

Another $67,256 in claims will be paid out in connection with the G8 summit in Huntsville, Ont., in picturesque Muskoka cottage country north of Toronto.

Toronto police G20 probe a ‘cat and mouse’ game, lawyer warns

The “cat and mouse” game playing out in investigations of policing at last year’s G20 summit is creating a crisis of confidence among the public towards Toronto’s forces, a leading human rights lawyer has warned.

Julian Falconer, who represents several clients who have accused police of mistreatment during last June’s meeting, said police actions, including the removal of badges and subsequent efforts to conceal officers’ identities, have become a systemic issue that requires systemic change.

Admirers and critics debate future of G8 summit as G20 grows in power

DEAUVILLE // The latest Group of Eight summit was "historic", the moment for the great powers to rally their wealth and arms behind the Arab people and staunch a gap in the spread of "western" values across the world.

Or was it a pointless, costly absurdity, a vanity project for leaders of nations in decline, marginalised by the rise of China and other big, industrialising nations, for whom the forum founded in the 1970s is a neo-colonial throwback?

G20 security still a question

Premier Dalton McGuinty has lost an opportunity to clarify the bizarre security regulations at last year’s G20 summit in Toronto by either apologizing for the secretly passed regulations or calling a broad inquiry.

Speaking last week, McGuinty declined to apologize for the regulations cabinet approved to the Ontario Public Works Protection Act that allowed police to search pedestrians in an area near the summit. The regulations caused confusion for demonstrators, particularly when police left the impression that the regulations applied to a five-metre zone near the summit’s fence. In fact, one may wonder if some police officers sincerely thought they did have the right to question pedestrians in that zone.

Judge refuses to release controversial G-20 report

A court has said it won't order the release of a controversial auditor general's report into government spending during last year's G8 summit.

A Federal Court of Canada judge ruled Thursday against activists who were seeking the release of the report before Monday's election, saying the group should have filed its suit weeks earlier.

Crossbow seized near G20 fence meant to repel break-in, court told

A Haliburton man stopped by Toronto police with a loaded crossbow two days before the G20 summit told an officer he was carrying it in case a neighbour broke into his car, a court has heard.

The arrest on a charge of weapons dangerous a short distance from the G20 security fence was one of the first of hundreds linked to the upcoming summit and made international headlines.

Japan Noda: Can't attend G20 seminar in China

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Friday he cannot attend a G20 seminar on reshaping the global monetary system being held in China this month.

His comment comes as Tokyo is struggling to pass bills to implement a $1 trillion budget for the year from April in a hung parliament.