London  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel German expressed confidence Saturday that the leaders of the world biggest economic powers would be able to bridge their differences and reach agreement at their summit next month on steps to combat the global recession.

Speaking at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Merkel said she was "very optimistic that we can come up with good results" at the London summit of the Group of 20 (G20) states.

Her comments following a meeting with Brown at the British Prime Minister's country residence Chequers came in the wake of signs of deepening rift between Europe and the new Obama White House over the need for pumping more money into the global economy to haul it out of its present downward spiral.

While US President Barack Obama's administration has been pressing the major economic states to produce additional fiscal plans, European leaders such as Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have ruled out more pump priming.

Instead they have stressed the need for overhauling the global financial system.

Both Japan and China, which are also members of the G20 group, have sided with the US on possible further fiscal action aimed at containing the fallout from the global economic downturn.

Saturday's talks between Merkel and Brown, who is also hosting the G20 London summit, came as G20 finance ministers and central bankers wound up a meeting outside London aimed at also preparing the ground for next month's gathering of the leaders of the world's top economies.

"I am optimistic that along with the US and emerging economies such as India or and China we can succeed to come up with regulations to to ensure that such a financial crisis is not repeated," Merkel said.

She went on to say the meeting is "going to be a very positive message to the rest of the world that we want to promote growth globally."

The German Chancellor also joined Brown in calling on their Group of 20 partners to step up action against tax havens.

This came after several European states includes Switzerland Luxembourg and Liechtenstein announced this week they easing their banking secrecy rules.

Brown said the moves to improve transparency of tax havens "was a major breakthrough for the world economy." (dpa)