Joint statement by the Finance Ministers of China and the UK1. 2005 sees Britain as the chair of the G7 and China as chair of the G20. 2. As the world economy faces the next stage of global economic change, Britain and China have agreed to work together on addressing the macroeconomic and structural challenges of globalisation for the world economy; international development and meeting the Millennium Development Goals; progress in the Doha trade agenda; and continued improvement of the international financial institutions. 3. We have today agreed to work together to study and address macroeconomic and structural vulnerabilities in the world economy. 4. A joint policy paper fro Britain and China will be submitted to the G20 Meeting in October. This paper will analyse the global economic challenges which we are facing; identify areas where countries can learn from each others experience and highlight ways of improving the flexibility of our economies as we respond to global economic change. 5. In the new global economy there will be a changing role for the international financial institutions. They must continue to adapt to support the stability that is vital to the modern economy. And as G20 and G7 Presidents we are committed to re-examining the strategic role of the IMF and World Bank – in particular the importance of a more independent role for the IMF in the vital task of surveillance of the world economy. 6. When Premier Wen visited the UK last year, the UK and China committed to work together to help poor developing countries in addressing poverty and other development related problems so as to better manage problems posed by globalisation. 7. We welcome China’s support for the UK’s proposal of an International Finance Facility to enable us to tackle global poverty and help meet the 2015 Millennium Development Goals. 8. Today the Finance Ministers of China and the UK have agreed to instruct their working-level officials to work towards a joint statement by the World Bank / IMF Spring Meetings setting out the objectives and priorities we have on international development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, including progress on innovative financing mechanisms, such as the International Finance Facility. This will also consider how we can continue to advance the opening up of trade and progress in the Doha trade agenda. 9. This joint work will help inform our approach to the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, the UN Millennium Review Summit in September, the G20 Ministerial Meetings in October and the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong in December. Notes to editors1. China attended a lunch at the recent Finance Ministers meeting in London. |