G20 summit opens in London

PanARMENIAN.Net - World leaders have gathered in London's Docklands for key talks at the G20 financial summit.



German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany and France will push for major changes to the global financial system to tackle the economic crisis. Speaking at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before the summit, Merkel reiterated her demand for improved regulation of financial markets.



Sarkozy added that new regulations were essential for market recovery. He said he is confident that US President Barack Obama would join the effort for immediate reforms.



However, critics of the G20 summit point to the lack of a new coordinated fiscal stimulus package - something Mr Brown and Mr Obama had originally hoped would be included.



On Wednesday, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama both warned that the new financial system to emerge from the current crisis would have to be different from that which led to the economic meltdown of the last year. However, both leaders expressed optimism that the crisis could be tackled this year.



Mr Obama urged the world not to "short change the future" because of fear over the current economic crisis.



The American President, at a joint press conference with Gordon Brown at the Foreign Office, said people needed to plan for a recovering economy.



G20 leaders are reported to agree on assigning $750 billion to tackle the crisis.