WASHINGTON (AFP) — World leaders gathered here Saturday for a economic crisis summit are to agree an action plan for reforming financial regulation and will pledge to stimulate the struggling world economy, a source told AFP.
The final communique issued by the leaders here, whose countries represent 85 percent of the world economy, is to commit them to three principles: stimulus efforts, reform of financial regulation and global governance changes.
Few specifics on the reforms are expected at this stage, but the source -- a high-ranking official in the French presidency -- said an action plan with deadlines would be agreed with work to culminate on March 31.
"This text has the essential characteristic, for which we fought for a longtime, of trying to be as concrete and as precise as possible," the source said.
The G20 countries, which includes industrialized nations in Europe and North America, Japan and Australia as well as emerging giants Brazil, Russia, India and China, are to meet again in April at a location that has not been decided, the source said.
While weeks ago some had talked expansively about redrawing the financial system in a "Bretton Woods II" overhaul in Washington, few expected concrete proposals this weekend as the summit kicked off on Friday.
There was agreement about the need to prevent a repeat of the crisis, caused by US and European banks taking huge risks that have now turned sour, but little agreement on how this should be achieved.
"We should establish more clear rules for the way global finance works and I think there is a great consensus for this," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday.
A commitment to coordinate economic stimulus plans was seen as one area for success, with governments able to synchronize tax and spending initiatives to boost flagging confidence among investors and consumers.
The deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, told reporters late Friday he was "reasonably hopeful" that the leaders would endorse a "coordinated signal for a fiscal stimulus."
US President George W. Bush began the summit with a reminder that there was no quick fix to the financial crisis, sending a message that expectations for the summit should not be too high.
"This problem did not develop overnight and it will not be solved overnight, but with continued cooperation and determination it will be solved," Bush said, before proposing a toast at the start of a lavish dinner .
Bush also stressed that one objective of the summit would be "reaffirming our conviction that free market principles offer the surest path to lasting prosperity."
The summit has seen countries compete with ideas of how best to approach the problem of the crisis.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that "laissez-faire capitalism is over" and has railed against the "dictatorship of the market" since the financial crisis worsened in September.
Despite the consensus for the broad ideas of the communique, the summit is severely hamstrung by the absence of the man of the moment: US president-elect Barack Obama.
There is no guarantee that Obama will implement any commitments made by Bush when he takes office in January.
The Democrat has sent former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and ex-Republican lawmaker Jim Leach to meet the foreign leaders on his behalf.
As the leaders arrived in Washington, the global economic climate was worsening.
Friday brought news that the 15 nations in the eurozone were now gripped by recession after two quarters of economic contraction and the leading index of the US stock market plunged 3.9 percent.
Data showed US consumers hunkered down in the face of a sharply slowing economy, sending retail sales tumbling a record 2.8 percent in October.
In other initiatives announced Friday, the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Forum said they would cooperate to provide an early-warning system in an effort to prevent financial crises.
Japan, China and South Korea also agreed to play "a pivotal role" in stabilizing Asia's economy by extending currency swap agreements and funding the Asian Development Bank.
They are to meet at a separate summit in December, a source told AFP.
Meanwhile, in an interview with The Washington Post, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso called on nations such as China to offer more help to the IMF, which has been charged with bailing out a number of countries.
"It doesn't have to be Japan alone that would provide such funds," Aso said, pointing out that Japan would offer as much as 100 billion dollars more to the IMF.
Created in 1999, the Group of 20 (G20) countries account for 85 percent of the world economy and about two-thirds of its population.
Its members are the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Britain and Canada, the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. Spain and the Netherlands have also been invited.
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