* G20 can only provide platform for talks on trade -chairman
* Adds members must resolve trade frictions themselves
* Japan wants to put global imbalance on next year's G20agenda (Adds quotes, detail)By Leika Kihara and Yawen ChenNUSA DUA, Indonesia, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Trade tensionswithin the Group of 20 leading industrialised and emergingeconomies could only be solved by the countries directlyinvolved, the chairman of a meeting of finance leaders from theG20 said after a gathering in Bali on Friday.Taking place on the sidelines of the International MonetaryFund and World Bank meetings on the Indonesian island, the G20meeting provided little more than a forum for member countriesto put their viewpoint on an escalating tariff war between theUnited States and China, the world's two biggest economies."We recognise we are now facing trade tensions among membersof the G20," Argentine Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne,chairman of this year's G20 finance leaders' meeting, told anews briefing, without directly mentioning either the UnitedStates or China."The G20 can play a role in providing the platform fordiscussions. But the differences that still persist should beresolved by the members that are directly involved in thetensions."The United States and China have slapped tit-for-tat tariffson hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods overthe past few months, jolting financial markets and stoking fearsthe rising tide of protectionism could dent global growth.Dujovne said that while global growth projections remainsteady, the expansion has become less even across economies asdownside risks materialised."On trade tensions, we agree that international trade is animportant engine of growth, and that we need to resolve tensionswhich can negatively affect market sentiment and increasefinancial volatility," he said.Dujovne sidestepped a question on how Japan ought to dealwith trade frictions when it chairs the G20 meetings next year,saying only that "Japan will be the one deciding on thepriorities."Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters onThursday that Tokyo hopes to discuss ways to fix globalimbalances at next year's G20 gatherings. The G20 finance leaders did not produce a joint communiqueafter their two-day meeting ended on Friday.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Yawen ChenEditing by Simon Cameron-Moore)