G-8 Summit/ Declarations and Resolutions: World Economy

Global growth

・We remain positive about the long-term resilience of our economies and future global economic growth.

・Among others, we express our strong concern about elevated commodity prices, especially of oil and food, since they increase global inflationary pressure. We are determined to continuously take appropriate actions, individually and collectively, to ensure stability and growth in our economies and globally.

・We urge private-sector players, national supervisory authorities and international bodies to rapidly implement all Financial Stability Forum recommendations to strengthen resilience of the financial system.

・We remain committed to promoting a smooth adjustment of global imbalances through sound macroeconomic management and structural policies in our countries as well as in emerging economies and oil producing countries. In some emerging economies with large and growing current account surpluses, it is crucial that their effective exchange rates move so that necessary adjustment will occur. We will promote continued consultation with our partner countries.

Trade and investment

・We will resist protectionist pressures against international trade and investment in all its manifestations.

・A successful conclusion of an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive WTO Doha agreement is critical to economic growth and development. We reiterate our determination to work as a matter of urgency toward the conclusion of the negotiations and call on all WTO members to make substantial contributions. We welcome the convening of a ministerial meeting starting on July 21.

Energy security

・We have strong concerns about the sharp rise in oil prices, which poses risks to the global economy. On the supply side, production and refining capacities should be increased in the short term. Joint efforts are also necessary to expand upstream and downstream investment in the medium term. On the demand side, it is important to make further efforts to improve energy efficiency as well as pursue energy diversification.

・To enhance energy security, we propose holding an energy forum to focus on energy efficiency and new technologies.

・We continue to strongly support the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI). We stress the importance of energy markets which send undistorted price signals and are free from any political pressure. We welcome the G-8 finance ministers' request to the IMF and the IEA to jointly carry out further analysis of real and financial factors behind the recent surge in oil and commodity prices. We also welcome the efforts taken by relevant national authorities for increased transparency of commodity futures markets and encourage further cooperation between them.

Raw materials

・To promote improved transparency, accountability, good governance and sustainable economic growth in the extractive sector, we continue to support initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and call for its full implementation.

Intellectual property

・Effective promotion and protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are critical to the development of economies. We will advance existing anti-counterfeiting and piracy initiatives. We encourage the acceleration of negotiations to establish a new international legal framework and seek to complete the negotiation by the end of this year.

Corruption

・We call for the ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) by all countries and effective implementation of UNCAC. We will also strengthen enforcement of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

Financial system abuse

・We encourage the OECD to strengthen its work on tax evasion and report back in 2010.

Heiligendamm Process

・We welcome the progress of the Heiligendamm Process.(IHT/Asahi: July 11,2008)