By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : US President George W. Bush will host a summit meeting on the global financial crisis Nov 15, bringing together world leaders from the Group of 20 developed developing countries including India.
The first in a series of conferences aimed at reforming the international financial system, the summit, to be held 11 days after the US presidential election, will include leaders of the Group of 20, the White House announced Wednesday.
The meetings of the forum, established in 1999 to promote dialogue among industrialised and developing countries on economic issues, normally bring together the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 nations plus the European Union.
The G-20 includes, besides India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In announcing the summit, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said the two presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain “have been made aware of the meeting and the president’s intention to invite the leaders. And I think they were supportive of the idea.”
She said the specific venue has not yet been finalised for the summit in the Washington, DC area. The summit will be preceded by a White House dinner Nov 14.
“The leaders will review progress being made to address the current financial crisis, advance a common understanding of its causes and, in order to avoid a repetition, agree on a common set of principles for reform of the regulatory and institutional regimes for the world’s financial sectors,” Perino told reporters.
“These principles can be further developed by working groups for consideration in subsequent summits.”
She said the leaders are also expected to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on emerging economies and developing nations.
The summit will give leaders an opportunity “to strengthen the underpinnings of capitalism by discussing how they can enhance their commitment to open, competitive economies, as well as trade and investment liberalisation,” Perino said.
Bush has spent the past couple of days making phone calls to various leaders to get their thoughts about the meeting, Perino said. She said Bush would also solicit the views of whoever is elected Nov 4 to succeed him.
“We will seek the input of the president-elect,” Perino said. But the administration believes it is important to go ahead with the meeting before the new president is sworn in Jan 20, she added.
“The time will be just about right” to hold the summit Nov 15, she said, “because a lot of the emergency measures that these countries have put forward are, hopefully, starting to have an impact on unthawing the credit markets.”
The G-20 is an appropriate grouping for the summit because “it includes developed and developing nations, and the president thinks it’s very important to include developing nations because they have emerging markets,” Perino said.
In addition to G-20 leaders, Perino said top officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, along with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the chairman of the Financial Stability Forum, are being invited to the summit.
The Financial Stability Forum is an institution set up in 1999 by the Group of Seven industrialised countries and based at the Bank of International Settlements in Switzerland.