Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 13 • Number 6 • 18th February 2009
G-7 Finance Ministers Vow to Co-operate, Resist Protectionism
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Finance ministers and central bankers from the group of seven world economic powers meeting in Rome this week declared their joint commitment to keeping trade lines and avoiding protectionism amidst the ongoing international economic crisis.
The agenda of the two-day gathering focussed on measures that the countries could take to improve transparency and market functioning in their domestic economies.
In a joint statement released at the end of the meeting, the ministers said that they remain “committed to avoiding protectionist measures, which would only exacerbate the downturn,” and expressed their desire to “work towards a quick conclusion to the Doha round” of trade talks at the WTO.
The G-7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Timothy Geithner, making his G-7 debut as US Treasury Secretary, reassured officials that US President Barack Obama’s US$ 787 billion plan to revive the US economy would not violate any of Washington’s obligations under international trade agreements (see related story, this issue). Geithner also acknowledged that the US was the source of much of the financial drama in recent months.
Christine Lagarde, French Finance Minister, said the G-7 recognised that protectionism could take multiple forms in the banking, financial, and economic domains.
“The important thing is to coordinate very closely our respective national actions within our relaunch plans,” said Lagarde. “But there were no accusations or criticism against this or that plan, this or that country, so we are all on the same line,” she added.
This week’s meeting comes in the run-up to a summit of the G-20 in London in April, which will bring together the G-7 as well as Australia, Brazil, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and several other emerging economies.
Marco Annunziata, chief economist at Italian bank Unicredit, said that the upcoming G-20 meeting will be important in reinforcing the ambitions of the G-7.
“The G-20 will be far more important because the G-7 countries cannot resolve the crisis on their own. They need the help of the emerging economies,” Annunziata said.
ICTSD reporting; “G7 pledges to avoid protectionism,” Guy Dinmore, Financial Times, 14 February 2009; “G7 urges action, but future uncertain,” Taipei Times, 16 February 2009; “G7: Italy hosts Finance Summit,” ANSA, 13 February 2009.
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