WTO Deputy Director General Alan Wolff told G20 leaders it was critical to utilize trade to help underwrite the economy, facilitate trade in essential medical supplies, and reform the institutional framework for world trade.

Wolff said close cooperation among international financial institutions, the WTO and the large commercial banks would be needed to free up trillions of dollars in required financing.

G20 Finance ministers last week annouced a joint platform for the extended debt restructure plan for countries severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.