The Group of 20 (G20) developing countries on Sunday called for greater efforts by the international community to free up trade in order to reduce poverty and ensure global economic growth.G20 finance ministers and central bankers urged developed and developing countries to compromise in resolving their trade disputes, which are holding up progress in World Trade Organization talks.“We agreed that a successful WTO Doha Development Round is critical for ensuring that globalization truly benefits all countries and would make a key contribution to achieving the millennium development goals,” they said. “We urge all parties concerned to provide the necessary political impetus to promote trade liberalization, fight protectionism, and make real progress at the WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong, China late this year with the view to concluding the negotiations by the end of 2006,” they said.The statement also said they were “committed to significantly increasing market access for goods and services, reducing trade-distorting domestic support, eliminating all forms of export subsidies in agriculture and providing effective special and differential treatment for developing countries”.Meanwhile, India on Sunday stressed that the crucial issue of agriculture should be resolved to the satisfaction of developing countries for the successful conclusion of the WTO Doha Development Round.Meanwhile, G20 agreed to develop a road map to reform the over 60-year-old Bretton Woods institutions — IMF and World bank — to ensure global economic growth and financial stability. “The evolution of the international economy and global financial markets requires a continuing review of the representation, operations, and strategies of the BWIs,” the G-20 meet concluded.
