ANNEX I
Extract from the Communique of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting, Trinidad and Tobago, 21-22 September 1983
"TOWARDS A NEW BRETTON WOODS"
6.
Ministers welcomed the Report "Towards a New Bretton Woods: Challenges for the World Financial and Trading System" for which they called at their previous meeting. The background, as explained in the communique of that meeting, was the urgent need, in view of the vast politico-economic changes which had taken place since the establishment of the Bretton Woods institutions, for a new overall examination of the international trade and payments system as a whole and in particular the role of the international economic institutions. They regarded the Report as a major contribution to the ongoing search for answers to the wide range of issues with which it dealt. They congratulated the Study Group on the high quality of their unanimous Report.
7.
Ministers noted that the Report contained far-reaching recommen- dations of a short and longer-term character. They felt that the short- term issues should be taken up by them at the forthcoming Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF. Ministers commended the general thrust of the Report for serious consideration by the Commonwealth countries in particular and the international community in general.
8. Accordingly they requested the Secretary-General to seek the widest possible circulation and discussion of the Report. In that context they discussed ways to add further impetus to efforts to promote multi- lateral economic cooperation.
9.
Ministers gave particular attention to the question of follow-up to the Report, including the recommendations on process which it contains. They welcomed the view that the call for a "new Bretton Woods" should be seen as a need for renewed work towards shared international objectives requiring the most careful preparation. An international conference could be the culmination of the process. They agreed on the need for a more integrated approach to inter-related issues of money, finance and trade. They also agreed that these were matters of great political importance requiring careful consideration by the international community at the highest level.
10. On this basis they commended the Report to Commonwealth Heads of Government at their meeting in November in New Delhi and requested the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Planning of Trinidad and Tobago to convey to his colleagues at New Delhi the essence of the discussions in Port-of-Spain.