Brazil urges rich nations to solve their own problems first

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Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz InacioLula da
Silva on Saturday urged the developed countries to resolve their own problems,
saying this is the best solution to preventing the current financial crisis from
spreading.

"The best solution for the crisis not to spread is that rich countries
resolve their problems. For the first time the problems are not in the poor
countries, they are in the rich countries," said President Lula, who was here
attending the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy.

"It doesn't help to look for palliative measures if you don't resolve
chronic problems of the economic policy of America and economic policy of the
EU," he told reporters before joining other leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) in
a five-hour formal summit meeting in downtown Washington D.C. on Saturday.

The G-20, founded in 1999, comprises 19 countries -- Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan,
Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United
States -- and the European Union. The group accounts for 85 percent to 90
percent of the world's GDP and about two-thirds of the world's population.

Lula, who is the acting president of the G-20, also called for a fairer
regulation of the global financial system and the world economy.

"Today, someone can become a billionaire without producing a single piece
of paper, a single job, without producing a single salary. For this, we need
serious regulation of coming from the G-20," the Brazilian president said.

He stressed that the Group of Eight (G8), which comprises the United
States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia, is no longer
relevant in a globalized world today and the G-20 should play a major role in
formulating international financial regulations.

"We are talking about the G-20 because the G-8 doesn't have anymore reason
to exist, in other words, the emerging economies have to be taken into
consideration in today's globalized world," he said.

At the five-hour formal summit meeting on Saturday, President Lula
continued to elaborate on this point of view.

"The existing multilateral organizations and the international rules in
place were rejected by history. Both the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank should open themselves to bigger participation of developing
economies," he said in his 15-minute speech at the summit.

"This means more of a voice, representation and a vote for developing
countries," Lula said.

Speaking to reporters following the summit, Brazilian Finance Minister
Guido Mantega expressed satisfaction that Brazil has achieved many of its stated
goals in the Washington financial summit.

"We have reached our goal of establishing the G-20 at the presidential
level," the minister said. "The (financial) crisis makes things viable that
weren't possible before."

Before the Washington summit, the G20 has been serving as an international
forum of finance ministers and central bank governors from its member economies.
The Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy marks the first time that
the G-20 is holding a heads-of-state meeting in view of the worst economic
crisis since the 1930s.

Bush hails G20
summit, leaves more work behind

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W.
Bush hailed the Summit of Group 20 (G20) as a productive meeting on Saturday,
hinting more work still needed to be done in tackling the financial crisis.

Agreement by leaders of the world's top economies to
modernize financial regulation and cooperate more fully will help keep the
global financial meltdown from getting worse, he told reporters at a news
conference after the summit. Full story

EU, French top
officials applaud G20 financial summit results

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- EU and
French top officials applauded the G20 financial summit concluded on Saturday
for four principles that were reached at the meeting.

"I was very happy with the results of summit," said
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at a post-summit joint press
conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "It has laid the foundation
for the future." Full story

G20 summit adopts action plan to implement principles of financial reform

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) --
Leaders attending the G-20 summit on financial markets and the global economy on
Saturday agreed to an action plan of immediate and medium-term measures to cope
with the financial and economic woes now gripping the world.

The tasks include strengthening transparency and accountability, enhancing sound regulation, promoting integrity in financial markets, reinforcing international cooperation, and reforming international financial institutions. Full story