G7: “Rules-Based Free, Fair Trade.”

This is what follows from the G7 trade meeting held in Calabria, Italy

The G7 on Trade seeks to support “a free and fair, rules-based and market-oriented multilateral trading system and to strengthen resilience and economic security.”

The ministers wrote this in a statement closing the G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting held in Reggio di Calabria and Villa San Giovanni in Italy on July 16 and 17, 2024.

“We pledge to focus our efforts on maintaining a free and fair, rules-based and market-oriented multilateral trading system and on strengthening economic resilience and security. We reaffirm the importance of promoting international trade as an engine of growth, prosperity, and development. We intend to intensify our efforts to keep national economy open and competitive, and to promote free and fair trade and investment by engaging our partners around the world, including in regions such as the Indo-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa,” the trade ministers explained.

Also discussed during the two days in Calabria was the need to continue efforts to reform the “monitoring, discussion, negotiation, and dispute settlement functions of the World Trade Organization (WTO)” and to implement a dispute settlement system that is fully functional and accessible to all participants. Added to this is the desire to promote the integration into global trade of less developed countries and other developing countries of Africa and the rest of the world.