Brussels, 09/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in L'Aquila (Italy) on 8 July, the leaders of the 8 most industrialised countries (G8 - Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan, UK and Russia) reiterated in a joint statement their commitment to “keep markets open and free and to reject protectionism of any kind”. “In difficult times, we must avoid past mistakes of protectionist policies, especially given the strong decline in world trade following the economic crisis. Recovery needs a strong international trade component to be viable and the relevant programmes (Ed: i.e. recovery plans) must fully respect our obligations and commitments to non-discriminatory treatment under WTO and other international agreements. We will maximise efforts and steps to promote and facilitate trade and investment”, the G8 declaration states, stressing the importance of signing up to the G20 commitments made in London in April, including that of “refraining from taking decisions to increase tariffs above today's levels”. “We will refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, imposing new exports restrictions, or implementing WTO inconsistent measures to stimulate exports”, it adds, urging the WTO to continue its control of trade policies on a quarterly basis. Finally, G8 leaders state their commitment to reaching a “rapid, ambitious, balanced and comprehensive conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda”. “We are engaged in a strengthened dialogue with our major partners to this end and look forward to discussing with them tomorrow”, the G8 declare. With their counterparts from emerging powers (South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Mexico), G8 leaders were to adopt, on Thursday 9 July, a declaration associating Australia, South Korea and Indonesia, calling for protectionism to be resisted and market opening encouraged. The leaders of the 16 nations of the Major Economies Forum were also to affirm their resolve to conclude the Doha Round in 2010, instructing their trade ministers to meet before the third G20 summit devoted to reform of the international financial architecture at the end of September in Pittsburgh. (E.H./transl.jl)