G20 leaders warn on intl economic slowdown, call for unrestricted trade

• Financial

At the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the G20 nations in Osaka, Japan, the member countries cautioned that the global economic environment continued to remain precarious on account of heightened geopolitical and business pressure among countries.

The leaders also called for a global atmosphere of free and fair trade and had also committed to ensuring a stronger settlement module for disputes of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A statement released by the leaders attending the summit read, "We strive to realise a free, fair, nondiscriminatory, transparent, predictable and stable trade and investment environment, and to keep our markets open." Despite the calls to have free and unbiased trade policies, the leaders refused to address the problem of protectionism by name on account of opposition by the United States.

In addition to these stands, the G20 Summit also saw a turnaround in the business relationship between the United States and China, with both countries agreeing to resume trade talks during their meeting in the periphery of the Summit.

Earlier, the Summit also saw a free trade pact signed between the Latin American trade bloc Mercosur and the European Union (EU). Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) managing director called the G20 leaders to come up with ways to ensure levy-less international trade so as to ease the worry of an international economic slowdown.