G20 leaders meet to reform world economy
Friday, 25 September 2009
PITTSBURGH, Sept 24, 2009 (AFP) : Leaders of the world's top economic powers promised tough action to police financial markets and prevent a new economic crash Thursday as they gathered for G20 summit.
Security was tight in the US city of Pittsburgh as it prepared to welcome the incoming heads of state, with thousands of extra police and Secret Service officers deployed around a ring of steel and concrete barriers.
"In Pittsburgh, we will work with the world's largest economies to chart a course for growth that is balanced and sustained," US President Barack Obama told the United Nations on the eve of the summit.
"And that means... strengthening regulation for all financial centers, so that we put an end to the greed, excess and abuse that led us into disaster, and prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed his call for thorough regulation.
"Pittsburgh will be a decisive milestone in determining whether the issue of financial market regulation remains a central issue. For us this is the most important issue at this meeting," she told reporters.
But Merkel also said she would resist moves by others, including the United States, to shift the focus of the meeting on Thursday and Friday to imbalances in the global economy, including Germany's trade surplus.
"I have the impression that we are on the right path but at any time the impetus might weaken. Therefore we will really press for this not to happen," she told a news conference before leaving Berlin.
The two-day summit of the world's 19 biggest developed and emerging economies plus the European Union comes just over a year after a US credit collapse triggered a global economic slowdown.
It also comes six months after the same G20 chiefs met in London to coordinate their response to the crisis, and their performance in Pittsburgh will be judged on whether they have lived up to their earlier promises.
Summit delegates all vow to take tough and lasting measures to bring order back to the markets, shore up failing institutions, save jobs and rekindle growth, but each arrives in Pittsburgh with their own priorities.
Security was tight in the US city of Pittsburgh as it prepared to welcome the incoming heads of state, with thousands of extra police and Secret Service officers deployed around a ring of steel and concrete barriers.
"In Pittsburgh, we will work with the world's largest economies to chart a course for growth that is balanced and sustained," US President Barack Obama told the United Nations on the eve of the summit.
"And that means... strengthening regulation for all financial centers, so that we put an end to the greed, excess and abuse that led us into disaster, and prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed his call for thorough regulation.
"Pittsburgh will be a decisive milestone in determining whether the issue of financial market regulation remains a central issue. For us this is the most important issue at this meeting," she told reporters.
But Merkel also said she would resist moves by others, including the United States, to shift the focus of the meeting on Thursday and Friday to imbalances in the global economy, including Germany's trade surplus.
"I have the impression that we are on the right path but at any time the impetus might weaken. Therefore we will really press for this not to happen," she told a news conference before leaving Berlin.
The two-day summit of the world's 19 biggest developed and emerging economies plus the European Union comes just over a year after a US credit collapse triggered a global economic slowdown.
It also comes six months after the same G20 chiefs met in London to coordinate their response to the crisis, and their performance in Pittsburgh will be judged on whether they have lived up to their earlier promises.
Summit delegates all vow to take tough and lasting measures to bring order back to the markets, shore up failing institutions, save jobs and rekindle growth, but each arrives in Pittsburgh with their own priorities.