Leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) nations will meet in Pittsburgh, the United States, on Sept. 24-25.
The summit will focus on how to boost the recovery of the world economy and its continuous development, improve financial monitoring, reform international financial institutions, work out an exit strategy for economic stimulus measures, and battle against trade protectionism.
The following are some of the views on these issues from parties to attend the summit.
ON IMBALANCE OF DEVELOPMENT
U.S. President Barack Obama recently proposed a sustainable and balanced development framework in which all G20 members would adjust their economic policies to make the world economy more balanced.
The U.S. government insists that China and Germany, with export-oriented economies, unduly rely on exports and continuously increase trade surpluses, which flow back to the United States in the form of investment and breed financial bubbles. It says China and Germany should reduce exports to the United States and import more U.S. products to avoid future crises.
China says the global economic imbalance is a special phenomenon in the process of economic globalization and due to many complex factors. It will take time to solve the problem and any measures adopted should be gradual and orderly and avoid sharp ups and downs in the world economy.
Helping developing countries, especially the most underdeveloped, is the way to address the problem of imbalanced development in the world, China says. China has expressed its hope that the Pittsburgh summit will yield positive results in this area.
The Chinese government recently revealed a package of measures to aid developing countries, which covered agriculture, food aid, education and training, health, clean energy, debt-relief, zero tariffs and other fields.
ON INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
China has brought forward a series of proposals to boost financial regulation, including strengthening crisis early warning, improving evaluation of the fragility of international and national financial regimes, paying more attention to the influences of international monetary environment changes and cross-border capital flow on the stability of financial systems, increasing financial institutions' capital and its liquidity, implementing stable profit-sharing and salary management measures, and enhancing financial institutions' risk resistance capacity.
On Sept. 17, European Union (EU) leaders listed seven principles to curb the salaries of senior bank officials. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU should rein in senior bank officials' salaries even without the U.S. support.
ON REFORMING INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
The developing countries in the G20 are demanding a greater say in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).
China says the Pittsburgh summit should further reveal the need to transfer voting power from developed to developing countries to provide fairer representation in fund organizations.
China also insists developing countries and emerging markets should also have a bigger slice of senior administrative seats at fund institutions, so that the administrations have wider representation and more legality.
Although the United States agrees that the developing countries and emerging economies should be better represented in international financial blocs, it insists the EU, instead of the United States, should cut their shares in the IMF and WB.
EXIT STRATEGY AND PROTECTIONISM
The global economy has shown signs of recovery, prompting the design and implementation of an exit strategy for economic stimulus measures to be brought onto the agenda.
Early this month, financial ministers and central bank governors of the G20 gathered in London and reached consensus that all countries should keep a discreet attitude on whether to conduct the exit strategy so that a wrong signal would not be sent to the market.
They agreed that only after the foundation for the world recovery had become solid, should each country consider stopping its stimulus measures.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said, although the world economy was still at risk of a renewed downturn, countries concerned should implement a proper and orderly exit strategy, phasing out economic stimulus measures in the coming months.
He said G20 leaders should reach consensus on what should be the principles for the exit strategy at the Pittsburgh summit, but different countries could carry out their own specific measures for the strategy according to their own timetables.
On trade protectionism, China has clearly expressed its opposition to protectionism and pushed forward the Doha round of trade talks to reach a comprehensive and balanced outcome.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a press conference that "we want a world without protectionism... we must remember the lessons from past recessions and that the more trade there is, the better chances the resumption of growth and the better the chances of jobs."
(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2009)
