Leaders of the G20 group of the world's major developed and developing economies, meeting in Washington on November 15 2008, approved a wide range of general principles and specific measures to prevent the global financial crisis worsening and to come up with reforms - including of multilateral financial institutions - to forestall a recurrence of such a crisis.

The G20 pledged to fight off a global recession, rejected protectionism and new barriers to investment or trade in goods and services.

Specific measures including improved regulatory supervision of banks and credit rating agencies.

The G20 set a deadline of March 2009 for the group's finance ministers to come up with recommendations to improve accounting standards, derivatives markets and oversight of hedge funds.

"Against this background of deteriorating economic conditions worldwide, we agreed that a broader policy response is needed, based on closer macroeconomic cooperation, to restore growth, avoid negative spillovers and support emerging market economies and developing countries," a communique issued after the summit said.

The G20, which is made up of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US, plus the European Union as a member in its own right, said that they supported giving emerging markets a greater say in the global financial order.

Key points in the communique said that the steps and principles agreed on at the summit include fiscal measures to boost demand rapidly; monetary policy steps as appropriate; more funds for the IMF to support emerging economies; to strive for breakthrough this year in the Doha round of trade talks; reform of the Bretton Woods multilateral financial institutions to give emerging economies more of a voice in line with their changing economic weight; a college of supervisors to review major global banks; and a review of accountancy standards, CEO pay, bankruptcy rules, credit rating agencies and moving credit default swaps to exchange trading

The next G20 meeting is scheduled for April 30 2009, provisionally with London as a possible venue.

US president George Bush, who hosted the summit, told a news conference after the meeting: "I don't think we could have predicted how productive this meeting was going to be".

However, a number of media reports and commentators noted that the most significant absence from the summit was that of US president-elect Barack Obama, who declined to attend on the grounds that Bush is president although Obama sent representatives for talks with G20 leaders on the margins of the summit. Several reports noted that the timing of the next G20 summit was about 100 days after Obama is inaugurated as president.

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that agreements at the summit represented a significant step by the international community toward stronger co-operation aimed at resolving the global financial crisis, and supporting the IMF's capacity to contribute to these efforts.

"(The) summit was significant because of the people present. A new world economic order is developing that is more dynamic and more inclusive than any we have yet seen," Strauss-Kahn said.

In a statement issued in Geneva, World Trade Organisation director-general Pascal Lamy said that the G20 communique provided the Doha round of trade talks with a "much-needed political impetus".

"What we need now is for this strong show of support to be translated into action at negotiating table," Lamy said, as quoted by Reuters.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick said: "What matters now are the follow-up actions…people are looking to leaders for a global, co-ordinated and fast response."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who attended the G20 summit, welcomed the agreement reached to better regulate global financial markets.
 
He praised "the agreement on the international co-ordination of stimulus packages, a move he had advocated in his remarks at the White House, also new market regulation to avoid future crises, more inclusive new economic governance, and the need to avoid trade and investment protectionism," his spokesperson said in a statement released in New York, DPA reported.

Russian president Dimitry Medvedev said that the G20 November 15 summit would become a step toward the establishment of a new global financial system. "I cannot promise you that a new Bretton Woods [system] emerged today in Washington, but it is absolutely clear that a step toward the creation of such a system has been made," Medvedev was quoted by Russian news agency RIA Novosti as saying.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told a post-summit news conference: "I was very happy with the results of the summit…it has laid the foundation for the future."

For the full text of the G20 declaration: http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/the-g20-summit-the-declaration-in-full/id_33000/catid_66