G20 evolves consensus on trade challenges

Finance chiefs of G20 countries were close to agreeing a common position on trade and other global challenges, which would be the first since US President Donald Trump’s election victory and tariff war. The G20, which emerged as a forum for cooperation to combat the 2008 global financial crisis, failed to reach a joint stance when finance ministers and central bankers met in February, to the dismay of hosts South Africa. An agreement now in the coastal city of Durban would be considered an achievement even though G20 communiques are non- binding and the precise wording is unclear. “I don’t think it’s a secret. It hasn’t been issued yet, but there’s going to be a communique,” Raymond Gilpin, chief of strategy, analysis and research at the United Nations Development Programme Africa, said on Friday.