From December 14th to 15th, Renmin University of China hosted the Kickoff Meeting for the China T20, the think tank summit accompanying the annual G20 meeting, hosted by a different member state each year. Almost 400 delegates from more than 20 countries, including representatives from leading global think tanks, the United Nations Development Program, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) met at RUC to discuss the theme of next year’s summit: “Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy.” Participants in the event’s opening ceremony included RUC Chairwoman, JIN Nuo, Chinese G20 Special Envoy, WANG Xiaolong, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, CAI Fang, President of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, CHEN Dongxiao, Chairman of T20 and Director at the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, Güven Sak, Director of the Kiel Institute of World Economy, Dennis Snower, Christina Pinna, policy advisor at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in China, and Carl Dahlman, Head of Global Development Research at OECD’s Development Centre. RUC Executive Vice President, WANG Liming, presided over the meeting.

WANG Liming, RUC Executive Vice President

 The T20 Summits constitute important meetings accompanying the annual G20 Summits, to which the representatives of global think tanks can contribute their ideas. They have attracted much attention for their important influence on policy decisions and implementations of the G20 Summits over the years. This most recent meeting was the first event held in connection with China hosting the G20 in 2016, marking its official opening. It was jointly organized by the Institute of Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, and RUC’s Chongyang Institute of Finance. These three think tanks were officially authorized as the three leading think tanks of the 2016 T20 Summit.

RUC Chairwoman JIN Nuo

WANG Xiaolong, Chinese G20 Special Envoy

CAI Fang, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

CHEN Dongxiao, President of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies

Güven Sak, Director at the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey

Dennis Snower, Director of the Kiel Institute of World Economy

Christina Pinna of the United Nations Development Program in China

Carl Dahlman, Head of Global Development Research at OECD’s Development Centre