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UK seeks India role in G20 in handling economic crisis

Sunday, 28 September 2008


NEW YORK, Sept 27 (PTI): In a bid to rope in countries such as India to join hands in tackling the financial meltdown in the US, British Premier Gordon Brown has said it cannot be left to the elite Group of Eight (G8) club alone to come out with strategies and wanted the involvement of G20, which includes developing nations, as well.
With ways to prevent recurrence of the financial crisis high on the agenda of the world leaders assembled for the UN General Assembly here, the suggestion of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an economist-turned politician, for a new international initiative to bring structural reform in the global financial system got instant support of Brown.
During their meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly, Brown agreed with Singh that the existing global financial architecture was not robust enough to deal with the international turbulence in financial markets.
Highlighting the need for broader strategies, Brown said the G20 will be well-suited to deal with the problem.
Addressing the UNGA session, Singh himself said there is a need for a new international initiative to bring structural reform in the world's financial system with more effective regulation and stronger systems of multilateral consultations and surveillance.
The explosion of financial innovation unaccompanied by credible systemic regulation has made the financial system vulnerable. "The resulting crisis of confidence threatens global prosperity in the increasingly interdependent world in which we live," Singh said.
Brown and Singh felt it was high time there was a single monitoring mechanism for a surveillance of the world's financial system. Singh felt the system must be designed in as inclusive a manner as possible.
Singh said the existing financial system was not serving the purpose.
The two leaders felt that the financial meltdown earlier used to affect the periphery only but now it has hit the centre too. The financial fragility is leading to weakness of financial institutions and weakness in confidence.