By Martin Crutsinger
Finance ministers from the world’s seven most developed economies may not even issue a joint communique when they meet in Istanbul this weekend, a senior U.S. Treasury official said Wednesday.
The disappearance of those communiques, long a staple of G-7 finance ministers’ meetings, would be a dramatic signal that the power in economic decision-making is shifting from traditional economic powers to the bigger Group of 20 nations.
The Treasury official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the discussions, said no final decision had been made to abandon the communique. But he noted that the G-20 leaders met just last week in Pittsburgh and designated the bigger group as the “premier forum” for international economic cooperation.
The G7 nations are the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy. The G-20 also includes major emerging markets such as China, Brazil and India.
Continue reading US Treasury Official: G-7 May Drop Joint Statement