As regards free trade, paragraph 13 of the G20 Declaration has strong words on the “importance of rejecting protectionism” and a firm commitment both to “refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services” and to strive for “a successful conclusion of the WTO’s Doha Development Agenda with an ambitious and balanced  7  See, for example, Eichengreen B. and R. Baldwin (eds) (2008), “What G20 Leaders Must Do to Stabilise our Economy and Fix the Financial System”, London: Centre for Economic Policy Research, a VoxEU.org publication circulated on the web on the eve of the G20 meeting.
4  BIS Review 159/2008  outcome”. This is a rather non ritual language and it sounds pleasantly out of tune with the widespread feeling that protectionism is on the rise again as a result of the crisis.