Leaders of the seven main industrialized countries pledged to work jointly for the start of an "ambitious" new round of world trade talks, to spur economic growth in years ahead.
In a statement, the G7 invited developing countries to join them in pushing for a new round at a WTO meeting in Qatar in November. US and EU policymakers talked of dismantling barriers to investment, competition and financial services, as well as further freeing trade in goods. The G7 called for more transparent trade rules.
The G7 summit comes as the US and the EU are embroiled in trade spats ranging from steel to tax to food, and as the world economy sputters. While growth in the US is evaporating and Europe is slowing, Japan faces its fourth recession in a decade.
"Trade has been the best avenue into economic growth,"
US President George W. Bush said in a statement. Expanded world trade would "make sure that countries less fortunate than ours will be able to sustain growth." Throughout last year, including at the G7 summit in Okinawa, last July, politicians called for a new world trade round to no avail. In November 1999, riots derailed a WTO summit intended to start talks on a new trade round.
The trade liberalization agreement led to an expansion in world trade in recent years, boosting growth until the economy was set back by a tripling in oil prices, weakening demand and the slump in stock markets.
Companies such as Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc and Royal Philips Electronics NV have announced thousands of job cuts in recent weeks, and Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average hovers near a four-and-a-half month low.
France's President Jacques Chirac told journalists that he wanted ``concrete decisions'' to establish a new trade round in Qatar and stressed that freeing global trade further is in the interest of France.
One obstacle to trade talks is that developing countries object to demands by EU countries and US congressional Democrats for labor and environmental standards in trade. Those measures would protect Western jobs by curbing the use of child labor and low rates of pay and benefits in developing countries.
To allay such fears, G7 leaders vowed to address the "priorities" of developing countries at the next WTO meeting.
"We are committed to working with developing countries," the statement read.
But the G7 leaders refrained from mentioning agriculture, which is the most protected field in global trade -- largely at the expense of poor countries. France's Chirac demanded that the issue of agriculture shouldn't be "dragged into the foreground" before new trade talks have even begun.
Another possible impediment is increasing scrutiny of mergers by competition regulators and opposition to a new round in the US.
On July 3, EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti blocked General Electric Co's proposed takeover of Honeywell International Inc, raising concerns that the EU is becoming more intrusive in scrutinizing transactions after about US$9.75 trillion of acquisitions were announced since 1998.
Bush needs authority from Congress to negotiate a new round.
A Republican senator this week threatened to block passage of a US free-trade agreement with Jordan, putting at risk the administration's broader push for an expansion of trade-negotiating power.
Separately, G7 leaders welcomed the near completion of talks with China and said ``progress'' is being made toward Russia's accession to the WTO.
Today's call isn't the first time politicians have attempted to revive support for a new round. In April, G7 finance ministers said they supported efforts to set new trade talks this year.
Before today's summit, analysts had said an agreement on trade in Genoa was critical for November's WTO meeting.
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