Bush plans summit of world leaders about financial crisis

In a renewed effort to secure the basis of “democratic capitalism”, President Bush announced on Saturday his plans to host emergency summits of leaders from the world’s top economies to chart out a rejoinder to the financial crisis.

Though no date has been finalized for the gathering, a White House statement said it would be held in the US “soon after” the November 4 election.

At Camp David, Maryland, the President, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso in attendance, said that the comprehensive objectives of the summits would aim at revamping the regulatory framework for global finance.

According to a senior White House official, the summit schedule would concentrate on a wide range of challenges, namely – an increase in the transparency of markets, a revision of the rules that govern the flow of investment around the world, and improving oversight of big banks, ratings agencies and hedge funds.

A statement about the summit says that the aim of the first summit would be to “review progress” in the ongoing crisis, as well as “to seek agreement on principles of reform needed to avoid a repetition and assure global prosperity in the future.” The summits to follow would be held to implement whatever agreements come to be made at the first.

As regards the participating countries, Bush said the summit would include developed and developing nations from around the world. Ideally, the meetings would involve emerging economic powers previously excluded from similar talks, along with those that have dominated the global financial system over the past half century.

Specifically speaking, the partakers in the summits would be the ‘Group of Eight’ - US, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia and Japan; leading developing nations - China, India, and Brazil; and, possibly also, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Australia.

Business News: 
General: 
Regions: