World leaders agree to tackle financial crisis with all measures

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 Kyodo -
Leaders of the world's major industrialized and emerging economies agreed
Saturday to take all possible steps to tackle the financial crisis around the
globe.

The Group of 20 leaders, who met for two days in Washington, also adopted an
action plan for reforming the financial system. U.S. President George W. Bush,
who hosted the summit, said the meeting was successful.
''We are determined to enhance our cooperation and work together to restore
global growth and achieve needed reforms in the world's financial systems,''
the leaders said in a joint declaration.
''Over the past months our countries have taken urgent and exceptional measures
to support the global economy and stabilize financial markets. These efforts
must continue,'' it said.
In his post-summit remarks, Bush said the leaders reached a ''common
understanding all of us should promote pro-growth economic policies'' but that
one meeting ''is not going to solve the world's problems.''
Bush also repeated his oft-stated support for free-market capitalism.
''Whatever we do, whatever reforms are recommended, we need to be guided by
this simple fact: that the best way to solve our problems and solve the
people's problems is for there to be economic growth. And the surest path to
that growth is free-market capitalism,'' he said.
The G-20 leaders said in the declaration that fiscal stimulus and monetary
policy measures are necessary to stabilize financial markets and spur economic
growth.
They pledged to complete short-term measures to stabilize global financial
markets and underpin growth by the end of March, to be followed by additional
measures.
They also sought to ensure multilateral development banks such as the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have ''sufficient resources'' to
continue lending to needy countries amid the crisis.
The G-20 leaders said they will meet again by the end of next April.
Bush, whose second four-year term expires in late January, said
''President-elect Obama's transition team has been fully briefed on what we
intended to do here at this meeting'' and that the U.S. transition will be
''seamless.''
''And I hope it was good for them to hear, that even though we're from
different political parties, that I believe it's in our country's interest that
he succeed,'' he said.
The G-20 consists of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations --
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- plus
major rising economic powers such as Brazil, China and India.
==Kyodo