The trade and investment ministers of the G20 countries adopted a joint ‘outcome document’ at the end of their meeting in Jaipur, India, on 24 and 25 August. They reiterate their commitment to values-based trade and the importance of encouraging this.
Of the 17 pages of the document, the paragraph mentioning the war in Ukraine was the only area “where we couldn’t get a consensus for obvious reasons”, said Indian commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who chaired the session. Most members condemned the war in Ukraine and its consequences, according to the authors of the paragraph in question. The UN resolution of 2 March 2022 is also mentioned. “There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions”, they add.
In addition, the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, stated via social media network X (formerly Twitter) that the G20 was calling for the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. However, this is not mentioned in the joint statement.
More generally, the ministers reiterated their commitment to the future reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the importance of its deliberative functions.
The document adopted by the G20 focuses in a fairly broad way on the subject of global value chains. The ministers also adopted, as an annex, the G20 Generic Framework for Mapping Global Value Chains, which is voluntary and non-binding.
It details a list of indicators for assessing the resilience of value chains, such as the concentration of suppliers and markets, the critical nature of an industry or product, and the level of connectivity. The document also provides founding principles for G20 countries to work together in this area.
Another key element of the G20 meeting was support for micro-enterprises and SMEs. These countries lack the resources and means to participate fully in world trade, according to the G20 trade ministers. This is why they adopted the Jaipur Call for Action for enhancing MSMEs’ access to information.
Finally, the Jaipur meeting adopted High Level Principles on Digitalisation of Trade Documents. The aim is to encourage the transition to digital technology through the basic principles of security, interoperability and cooperation. The G20 is committed to implementing these various principles, which are non-binding, and to encouraging other countries to do the same.
View the outcome document and its annexes: https://aeur.eu/f/8cx (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)