November 14, 2015 Syria

G20 leaders met to prevent another world war

A global coalition on November 14th called on G20 leaders to develop a Middle East Recovery Plan to pull Syria's neighbours back from the brink after more than four years of conflict. The coalition called on leaders meeting directly across the water from Syria to commit to a plan that provides robust support to Syria’s neighbours who have hosted the vast majority of refugees since that conflict erupted in 2011.

This call is backed up by new research from the Middle East Investment Initiative (MEII) that makes the economic, political and security case for such a plan. “Syria's neighbours are bearing the brunt of a crisis that has now washed up on Europe's shores, said spox A. “A generation of children is being lost and billions of dollars are being sucked into the void of war and the aid response to it. With the right political will, G20 leaders meeting just up the coast from where little Aylan Kurdi's body was found, have the opportunity to turn this around.” 

MEII’s report makes the case for a Marshall Plan-style investment effort in the countries hosting the majority of Syria’s refugees – Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey – to help steady their economies, decrease incentives towards extremism and provide a stable basis for political negotiations towards what Syrians ultimately demand: a political solution to the conflict based on human rights for all. 

'This is the 21st Century’s world war: after almost five years of conflict, more than four million people have fled Syria in terror and despite this summer's influx into Europe, 95% of them remain in just five countries,” said spox B. “G20 leaders in Turkey this week must consider their obligations to their hosts by tackling growing economic instability as a precursor to peace. The Middle East Recovery Plan is a grand vision for a region that is already central to most of our security concerns and, increasingly, our economic ones.” 

The Middle East Recovery Plan (MERP) is a proposed recovery program based on mutual cooperation, infrastructural investment and support for local enterprise. Although inspired by the Marshall Plan that helped Europe rise from the ashes of the last World War and become the world’s largest economic bloc, the MERP needs to benefit from the coordinated goodwill and ambition of all G20 leaders, not just the United States. 

“Much like Europe nearly seventy years ago, Syria’s neighbours today are experiencing weary, war-torn economies with massive unemployment, dysfunctional social services and huge numbers of refugees,” said spox C. “A plan to help Syria’s neighbours survive and stabilize – much like the Marshall Plan – would help a region in freefall and serve as an incentive to drive progress on a political solution. “ 

“Syrians will continue to attempt the deadly crossing as long as conditions in host nations remain so dire,” said spox D. “The G20 leaders, who represent more than 85 percent of global GDP wealth, must seize this opportunity to boldly develop and rapidly ramp up funding and resources to Syria’s neighbours and lay the foundation for a new redevelopment and recovery plan for the region.” 

The report’s recommendations include: 

1. Greater coordination between international organizations including the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and G20 countries to design a coordinated strategy for economic development and growth in the region 
2. Increasing access to finance for small and medium sized enterprises 
3. Legalizing the employment of refugees in host communities 

“The international community needs to be more compassionate and innovative in its support to Syrian refugees and the countries hosting them”, says spox E. “Refugees do not need to be an economic drain and the international community, including Syria’s neighbors, must give them a chance to contribute to the societies and economies of their hosts.”