G20 Summit Opens June 18 with Focus on European Debt Crisis
By Phillip Kurata
Staff Writer
Washington - The European financial crisis will be a key topic when the
leaders of 20 large economies gather in Mexico June 18 and 19.
The Europeans "recognize they're going to have to do a bunch more to ...
restore a bit of calm," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said June 13.
"The world's going to have a chance this Monday and Tuesday [June 18-19] in
Mexico at the G20 meeting to hear from them where they plan to go next."
Geithner will accompany President Obama to the summit in Los Cabos,
Mexico.
The treasury secretary said Europeans are considering three kinds of
reforms to quell the financial crisis affecting the 17 economies in the
eurozone:
. A banking union that would create a more integrated framework for bank
supervision, deposit insurance and a "broader backstop" of the financial systems
of Europe.
. A support system that would help countries grow their economies while
restructuring their financial affairs. "The reforms are going to take time, and
they will not work without the ability of these countries to borrow at
affordable rates."
. Investing in infrastructure development in the countries struggling
economically. "They're talking about mobilizing a larger scale of resources to
support infrastructure, and allocating those to the countries in Europe where
growth is weakest."
Obama has called on European leaders to do more to overcome the crisis,
which poses a threat to the world economy. Germany, the strongest economy in the
eurozone, has advocated fiscal discipline and austerity measures to deal with
the debt crisis. Others, such as France's new president, Francois Hollande, are
recommending an initiative to spur growth in the eurozone's ailing
economies.
This is the first G20 summit in Latin America. The summit host, Mexican
President Felipe Calderón, has said that Mexico seeks not only to help find a
solution for the economic emergency but also to draw up a long-term global
development agenda.
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State.)
No comments:
Post a Comment