David Cameron attends G20 Summit
Prime Minister David Cameron is in Seoul, South Korea, to meet other world leaders at the G20 Summit
Mr Cameron said his three key priorities for the Summit are promoting stability, encouraging free trade and correcting imbalances.
The PM said the “big battle” was to ensure world trade stayed open and argued that the main purposes of this G20 should be to show “we’re going to fight protectionism in all its forms”.
Speaking at the Business 20 Summit (B20) the PM made the case that the outcomes of G20 needed to support business and create jobs.
The PM said:
We’re going to fight trade barriers, we’re going to fight beggar-my-neighbour policies. We’re going to fight currency wars. We’re going to fight competitive devaluations.
Mr Cameron also warned that stability would not be delivered while the current stark trade imbalances persisted.
The issue is this: One of the problems that lay behind the 2008 crisis was the fact that we had a wall of saving in the East and a wall of debt in the West.
This massive surplus of cash seeking out places to invest led to the problems.
According to the IMF, those imbalances are currently getting worse, not better. We mustn’t fail to address this issue.
Earlier today the PM visited Gloster Valley to pay his respects at the memorial to British soldiers who lost their lives in the Korean War and attended remembrance commemorations at the Korean War Memorial where he laid a wreath.
Speeches and transcripts: PM’s Business 20 speech