The Group of the world’s 20 leading industrial and major developing countries agreed to prioritise protecting and reinforcing the current economic recovery to lay the foundations for robust, sustainable and balanced growth as well as safeguarding financial institutions against risks.

This was stated by the G-20 leaders at the end of their Summit in Toronto , Canada , on June 28.

Having approved a framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, the heads of the 20 countries agreed on reforming the global financial sector and international financial institutions, discouraging protectionism and facilitating trade and investment.

Earlier, the G-20 and their guests and international organisations held a plenary session on reforming international financial organisations and administrative mechanisms.

Speaking for ASEAN, as Vietnam holds the chair this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung delivered a speech on the global economy and its prospects and challenges.

He said that ASEAN member countries have recently achieved a considerable degree of economic recovery after the global recession, which has helped the Asian economy to recover as well the world’s economy.

He noted that the world has weathered the worst of the storm but not yet gotten to the root of the global financial crisis, which could be disastrous if an additional crisis occurs on a national and international scale, in both developed and developing countries.

He said that ASEAN urged the G-20 to continue concentrating on the fundamental and long-term issues in its policies and measures, referring to the development of sustainable economic models of growth, settling development matters, narrowing the development gap, dealing with climate change and food and energy security.

Discussing protectionism and the facilitation of trade and investment, PM Dung voiced the group’s concern about the slowness of the Doha talks and called on the G-20 to take the lead in speeding up efforts to complete the talks as soon as possible.

He said that ASEAN praised the G-20’s strong opposition to all forms of trade and investment protectionism and asked the group to continue taking measures to outlaw barriers on trade and foreign direct investment while supporting the G-20’s measures to facilitate trade and investment.

PM Dung delivered ASEAN’s proposal that it will work together with other blocs, such as the EU, NAFTA, AU and the G-20 to compile and issue a joint statement to express a determination to complete the Doha talks within the next 12 months.

Touching on the reform of international financial institutions, PM Dung emphasised Vietnam ’s and other ASEAN members’ high evaluation of the initiatives and endeavours to increase the transparency and efficiency of international financial institutions.

He praised these financial institutions for assisting development banks in the region, which has enabled them to continue aiding developing countries in terms of capital, experience and technical assistance, so they can deal with macro-economic uncertainties.

PM Dung suggested that international and regional financial institutions step up the provision of assistance to developing countries when completing their millennium development goals.

He urged the WB in particular to prioritise initiatives that support the fight against climate change and improve its capacity to coordinate financial resources in the field.

ASEAN’s representative also underlined the need to enhance cooperation and policy consultations between international financial institutions and regional organisations to make these institutions’ operations more effective./.