TRADE
RESIST PROTECTIONISM: G20 leaders reaffirmed their pledge to fight protectionism following a recent report by the World Trade Organization and other multilateral institutions that found many G20 countries had adopted trade restricting measures since the global financial crisis began.
PUSH FOR DOHA DEAL: G20 leaders promised to push for an "ambitious and balanced" agreement in the Doha round in 2010. It was the first time the G20 as an institution set a deadline for completing the round, but the call for completing the deal in 2010 echoed what major developed and developed countries had already agreed at a G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy in July. G20 members clashed in Pittsburgh over the best path forward for the Doha talks, with the United States resisting pressure from the European Union, Australia and Brazil to set a deadline for a deal on agriculture and manufacturing "modalities" by the end of 2009. Those are core formulas for cutting tariffs and subsidies that have eluded negotiators for years. Instead, leaders instructed top trade officials to close remaining gaps in the negotiations "as quickly as possibly" and meet by no later than early 2010 to take stock of where things stand in the Doha round.
REMAIN COMMITTED TO COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE
U.S. President Barack Obama succeeded in getting G20 leaders to agree to phase out subsidies for oil and other fossil fuels over the "medium" term -- a step that studies show could reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly by 2050.
But the G20 did not make any substantial progress on the issue of climate finance -- how much industrial nations should contribute to help developing nations deal with global warming. That topic is a major stumbling block in the run-up to U.N. talks in December to forge a climate pact to take over from the Kyoto Protocol.
G20 leaders tasked their finance ministers, again, to study the issue and report back at their next meeting.
In July, G8 countries committed to cut their emissions by 80 percent by 2050. All major emitters referred to a target to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees centigrade.
REFORM OF BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS; IMF FUNDS
G20 leaders in April agreed to accelerate reforms including increasing IMF surveillance of the global economy and giving major emerging economies more voting power.
They made some headway in Pittsburgh.
Obama scored a win in getting the G20 to agree to a minimum 5 percent shift in voting power at the International Monetary Fund, redistributing influence from the old developed nations to new emerging economic powerhouses. However, key emerging nations Brazil, Russia, India and China were pushing for a 7 percent shift.
The IMF was also put in charge of helping G20 nations monitor the policies of their peers, under a so-called mutual review process aimed at better balancing global growth.
G20 leaders noted they had fulfilled a pledge made in April to boost IMF resources by $500 billion.
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