Obama, Brown Meet Ahead of G-20 Summit in London

2009-04-01 16:56:21

·Gordon Brown hosted talks with Barack Obama Wednesday ahead of G20 summit. ·A press conference by Brown and Obama was scheduled later in the morning. ·Obama landed late Tuesday in London for his first trip to Europe since he took office.

LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) --

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hosted talks with U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) summit on the financial crisis and world economy.

Obama and his wife Michelle arrived at 10 Downing Street in London early in the morning. They were greeted by Brown and his wife Sarah. The two first couples posed for photograph before going inside for closed-door talks.

A press conference by Brown and Obama was scheduled later in the morning at the British Foreign Office.

Obama landed late Tuesday in London for his first trip to Europe since he took office in January, stepping onto the world stage for the first time as U.S. president.

He was in London for the G20 summit to discuss ways to alleviate the global financial and economic crisis, which was due to begin on Thursday.

Obama and other major world leaders are expected to agree to a major revamp of the world financial system as well as new coordinated measures to combat the economic downturn.

Editor: Fang Yang

G20 leaders gather in London for crucial summit

2009-04-01 19:53:00

LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) --

Leaders from the Group of 20 nations (G20) are gathering here Wednesday for the crucial summit talks, which aim to reach agreement on revitalizing the global economy and reforming the world financial system.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who arrived late Tuesday, held bilateral talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday morning.

Speaking at a joint press conference following their meeting at the Downing Street 10, both Obama and Brown said that they agreed that a global solution is needed for the financial crisis.

The two leaders also agreed that there should be more banking regulations. Brown stressed that no recovery takes place until the banks are cleaned up. Obama said: "We have passed the era of irresponsibility."

Referring to the G20 summit, Obama said: "I came here to listen," stressing that the leaders should seek "common ground," "not our differences." He stressed that the differences were "vastly overstated."

The G20 summit is scheduled to begin at the Excel Centre in London's Docklands on Thursday.

The meeting, the second such high-profile gathering since November, is expected to agree to a major revamp of the world financial system as well as new coordinated measures to combat the economic downturn.

But the outcome of the summit rests with participants' ability to bridge their differences on economic stimulus plans and reforming the global financial system.

While the White House has pushed for more fiscal measures to help the economy, major European countries, notably Germany and France, remain skeptical about this and they mainly focus on tightening financial regulation and reforming the world financial system to prevent such a crisis in future.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly has threatened to walk out of the London summit if his demand for stronger financial regulation were not met.

Speaking in an interview with French radio Europe 1 on Wednesday, Sarkozy reiterated that he wouldn't want to "associate" himself with a G20 that would be concluded by "false compromises."

He said neither France nor Germany is satisfied with the current draft of the G20 statement, which he said should go even further on tightening financial regulations.

"Regulation is at the heart of the debate," Sarkozy said.

Major developing countries also support reforming the world financial system, but they insist that should have a bigger say in multilateral financial discussion and relevant policy-making process.

While the London summit brings together leaders from the top 20 industrialized and emerging economies, the city has also braced itself for a series of massive anti-globalization, anti-war and pro-environmental protests.

Massive security operation is underway in London and police leave has been cancelled, BBC news reported Wednesday, showing live pictures of thousands of protesters waving flags and chanting in front of Bank of England.

Many banks and shops have been boarded up, and city workers are urged to dress down.

Editor: An

German statistics office: G20 severely affected by global economic crisis

2009-04-01 16:32:34

BERLIN, April 1 (Xinhua) --

German federal statistics office released a summary on Wednesday, saying the global economic crisis had severely affected the 20 leading developed and emerging economies (G20).

"The price-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) of many G20 countries in the fourth quarter of 2008 was smaller than in the fourth quarter of 2007," the Wiesbaden-based office said in its summary report ahead of G20 summit in London.

The office said particularly hit were the economies of Japan and South Korea, where the GDP shrank by 4.3 and 3.4 percent respectively in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to that of 2007.

In Italy, the GDP shrank by 2.9 percent quarter-on-quarter in the same period, Germany by 1.6 percent, while the European Union (EU) as a whole by 1.3 percent.

North America also saw economic performance decline in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Canada's GDP fell by 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter, the United States by 0.8 percent and Mexico by 1.7 percent.

For the more robust economies like China, India, Indonesia and Argentina, the growth of their GDP has been slow down in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the office.

In the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the GDP in these countries still rose from 4.9 percent to 6.8 percent, but the growth rates were well below the levels of the past years.

Editor: Fang Yang

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.