G20 Foreign Ministers End Atlanta Meeting Without a Joint Communique: How Diplomatic Outcome Documents Work

When countries meet for talks, they usually end by releasing a written text that records what they discussed and agreed. These texts are called outcome documents. The most common types are the joint communique, the joint statement, the declaration and the chair's statement (also called the chair's summary). The type of document tells you how much the countries really agreed: a joint text means everyone signed on, while a chair's statement often means they could not agree.

The G20 is a forum of the world's major economies: 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union. It was set up in 1999, after the Asian financial crisis, as a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors. It was raised to the level of heads of state or government in 2008, during the global financial crisis. It has no permanent secretariat; the presidency rotates every year, and the current, previous and next presidencies work together as the "Troika". Its decisions are taken by consensus and are not legally binding.

Freedom of navigation is the principle that ships of all countries may sail through international waters and use important sea routes without interference. Its legal basis is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982, which came into force in 1994. UNCLOS divides the sea into zones: territorial sea (up to 12 nautical miles, where foreign ships have only "innocent passage"), the Exclusive Economic Zone (up to 200 nautical miles, where the coastal state controls resources but others may sail freely), and the high seas beyond. For straits used for international navigation, such as the Strait of Hormuz, UNCLOS gives ships a stronger right of transit passage that cannot be suspended.