Global economic leaders meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, have committed to strengthening the contribution of trade to economies.

The final communiqué of the First G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors stated that “international trade and investment are important engines of growth, productivity, innovation, job creation, and development,” adding that, in the face of global economic challenges, “this is our moment to take action to address structural growth impediments, rebuild buffers, reduce excessive global imbalances, and mitigate risks.”

The ministers recognised that policy responses and international cooperation are necessary to seize opportunities and ensure that their benefits are felt by everyone. They therefore agreed to “develop a menu of policy options for consideration at our meeting in July.”

They also agreed to “promote the necessary conditions to help develop infrastructure as an asset class,” one of the priorities of the Argentine G20 presidency.

To achieve this objective, they developed a roadmap based on the conclusions of previous presidencies that put forward a set of next steps.

Specifically, G20 economic leaders committed to “improve project preparation, move towards greater standardisation of contracts and infrastructure financing instruments, address data gaps, and improve risk mitigation, taking into account country-specific conditions.”

In recognition of the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies, the ministers agreed to “implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards as they apply to crypto assets," stating that they "look forward to the FATF review of those standards," and calling on the FATF to push forward with their global implementation, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service