The Global Economic Symposium, or GES, will take place in Istanbul from Sept. 27-29. The prestigious event will be held outside of Germany for the first time ever. Around 800 participants from around the world are expected to converge on Turkey's economic powerhouse to seek solutions to the pressing issues of the global economy.

Speaking at a press conference, İbrahim Turhan, the vice-chairman of the Central Bank of Turkey, said GES seeks to be the catalyst for future change. Turkey gained the right to host the symposium after the GES member elections last year, Turhan said, adding that Turkey was chosen as the host country with 95 percent of the votes.

Turhan said Europe acted "quite late" in taking the necessary measures against the global crisis. "We have to bear in mind that it is not easy to make a decision in the European Union," he said. "Nowadays in Europe, many are saying that the effects of the crisis could have been less if the West had taken the necessary precautions for Greece and provided financial help in time."

The EU still does not have a single budget and a single fiscal policy, he said.

Even though economic data on the first and the second quarters of this year looked promising, recent figures have created questions about a reoccurrence of the crisis, according to Turhan.

An ‘action-oriented' forum: Alessio J.G. Brown, the director of the symposium, said that proposals that come out of GES gatherings are "small but useful steps" in constructive directions. "We label solutions," he said, adding that the meeting is different than the World Economic Forum summits, since GES is "action-oriented, research-based and interactive."

"Our only aim is to formulate and review policy and devise business strategies for addressing global problems. GES is a solution symposium, not a discussion forum," he said.

According to Brown, the aim of GES is to create an international community of economists devoted to analyzing and solving major global economic problems. These include climate change, poverty, inequality, economic and political insecurity, financial instability, social fragmentation, and corruption and governance issues.

The world is becoming more interconnected and interdependent, spurred by the forces of globalization and technological advance, according to Brown. "This connectedness creates great opportunities such as the benefits of knowledge diffusion and equally great dangers such as international terrorism and climate change," he said. "Thus, the need for cooperation is growing, both among countries and among major decision-makers within countries. Yet often the means to achieve such cooperation is lacking."