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In 2016, a “G20 Entrepreneurship Action Plan” was adopted at the G20 Summit in China. The Ministers of Labour and Employment from G20 members and invited countries agreed to establish an "Entrepreneurship Research Centre on G20 Economies" for knowledege sharing. The ILO was invited to jointly launch the project and to participate in the inauguration ceremony at Tsinghua University in Beijing on 11 January 2017.

News | 11 January 2017
Beijing (ILO News) -- During the 2016 G20 Summit in China, the labour ministers’ Beijing Declaration formulated a “G20 Entrepreneurship Action Plan” with a view to promoting innovation and inclusive growth. In support of the Action Plan, an “Entrepreneurship Research Centre on G20 Economies (ERCGE)” was decided to be established as a platform to deepen information exchanges and extend the sharing of good practices among G20 members.

The Centre was set up to work closely with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other stakeholders to undertake analysis and comparative studies on entrepreneurship. The ILO was thus invited to jointly launch the “Inauguration Ceremony of Entrepreneurship Research Centre on G20 Economies” at Tsinghua University on 11 January 2017 in Beijing, China.

Tim De Meyer, Director of ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia, delivered the opening remarks. He expressed that the Research Centre symbolizes China’s commitment and swift action to give effect to undertakings by the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting. As repeatedly stressed by Xi Jinping, the President of China, entrepreneurship in China should focus more on active practices of socialist core values rather than profit-seeking. Mr De Meyer hence indicated four main mandates of the entrepreneurship research centre:
  • to promote entrepreneurship education and training;
  • to strengthen services for entrepreneurship;
  • to help entrepreneurs address challenges and sustain business development;
  • to protect the rights and interests of entrepreneurs and their employees.
During the ceremony, the ILO introduced its approach to entrepreneurship development. Entrepreneurship is a main element of active labour market policies, and it is linked to the ILO Recommendation No. 189 on General Conditions to Stimulate Job Creation in Small and Medium Enterprises (1998). Although sustainable enterprises require more than entrepreneurship, they cannot emerge without it. It is also important to notice that entrepreneurship promotion must not be informal economy promotion, which could negatively impact the development of sustainable enterprises.

Mr Yin Weimin, Minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS); Mr Kong Changsheng, Vice Minister of the MOHRSS; Mr Chen Xu, Party Secretary of Tsinghua University; and Mr Yang Bin, Vice President of Tsinghua University attended the inauguration ceremony. More than 200 people participated in the event, including officials of embassies of G20 members, senior representatives of relevant international organizations, related Chinese government departments, as well as scholars, experts and entrepreneurs.