A few months ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane, representatives of think tanks based in each of the G20 countries met on 3 and 4 September in Beijing for the "Great Comprehensive Growth International Finance and Global Think Tank Summit". The purpose of this conference was to gain a better understanding of the topic at issue and draw a set of policy recommendations to put global economy back on track. The summit also represented a significant opportunity to promote greater research cooperation between  think tank operating in highly diverse political and economic contexts. The conference - the second round of the annual "Think Tank G20 Summit" - was hosted by the Renmin University of China and organized by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. ISPI took an active part in the summit’s activities, with Antonio Villafranca - ISPI Head of Europe Program - presenting a paper entitled "Reforming the global economic governance: public goods and the balance of power."

Antonino Villafranca
Deputy Director and Head of the European Programme at Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), Italy

Antonino Villafranca is Deputy Director and Head of the European Programme at ISPI. He teaches International Relations at the Bocconi University and European Policies at the IULM University in Milan. At ISPI he is currently in charge of 3 European research projects - funded by the EU Commission under the VII Framework Programme on, respectively, global/European economic governance (Rastanews), EU international dimension (Gr:een) and EU-Mediterranean relations (Arabtrans). He also provides expertise on international economics to the newly-elected European Parliament in network with leading EU Universities and think tanks led by the London School of Economics.

He graduated in Economics at the University of Palermo, earned a Master’s Degree and got a PhD in Economics and International Relations at the Catholic University of Milan, where he was also awarded the prestigious “Premio Gemelli”. In 2011 he was chosen by the US State Department for the “International Visitor Leadership Program”. He has extensively published on international and European economic governance (e.g. C. Secchi and A. Villafranca (eds) “Global Governance and the Role of the EU”, Edward Elgar, 2011).