Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said in his speech before leaving for France to attend the G-20 Summit in Cannes that the summit is taking place amid global economic concerns.

"The Cannes Summit takes place against the backdrop of the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. This crisis has emerged as the principal source of concern for the global economy," he said.

Two earlier summits of the European Union and Eurozone have taken firm actions to address the crisis in the common currency zone but market needs much more assurances from the governments. It is important that major decisions are made to address the economic challenges.

The Prime Minister said that he will hold bilateral meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy during the visit. He expresses delight over meeting with UK's Prime Minister David Cameron, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, as well as the European Union leaders Mr. Herman Van Rompuy and Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso.

He expects the 20 biggest economies of the world to signal a "strong and coordinated approach" in order to put the global economy on the path of growth by taken measures to fix medium term structural issues. Singh emphasized the need for a strong and coordinated approach to address the economic woes in the global economy.