The G20 summit must not duck the hard issues

George Osborne has warned that the hard issues must be tackled not ducked at this week’s G20 summit in London.

The Shadow Chancellor stressed that, with the world’s largest economies coming together to discuss a collective approach to the economic downturn, “much can be achieved if we are bold enough”.

And he identified the key areas where action must be taken:

• Free trade – George called for a binding decision not to raise tariffs and a conclusion to the long-delayed Doha free trade round
• Reform of the IMF – George stressed the International Monetary Fund should be changed to reflect “the balance of economic power as it stands in 2009 instead of 1945”
• International financial regulation – George explained the importance of greater co-ordination of regulation and repeated David Cameron’s call for a new international agreement requiring banks to set aside more money in the good years to protect against the bad times

Writing in the Evening Standard, George stressed, “Concrete steps on free trade, help for the developing world and international financial reform…remain within our reach. If we do, then all the disruption in London will have been more than worth it.”