Bush hosts dinner for Manmohan, G20 leaders

There is more work to do beyond the immediate crisis and the stakes are indeed high, the US President said, stressing that “developing nations need the assistance they have been promised — as well as additional foreign investment – to continue their journey from poverty to promise”.

“All over the world, people understand that their livelihoods depend upon a healthy and growing global economy. The surest path to that growth is to continue policies of free and open markets. Free market capitalism has been an engine of prosperity, progress, and social mobility in economies all over the globe,” Bush said.

After the working dinner, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement that the G-20 leaders had “a good, productive meeting.”

“The leaders look forward to meeting tomorrow (at the G-20 summit) to launch an effort to take concrete actions to protect the global financial system,” Perino said.

The G-20 leaders, whose countries represent 85 per cent of world economy, are meeting amid worsening global financial system which demands urgent measures.

Perino said that Bush also welcomed the heads of key international organisations at the working dinner on the eve of the summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy.

She said the Managing Director of the IMF Dominique Strauss Kahn, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, Chairman of the Financial Stability Forum Mario Draghi and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon discussed the steps their organisations are taking to address the global financial crisis.

Earlier, Bush told the leaders of the G-20 that “… we are here because we share a concern about the impact of the global financial crisis on the people of our nations. We share a determination to fix the problems that led to this turmoil. We share a conviction that by working together, we can restore the global economy to the path of long-term prosperity.”

Noting that the summit discussions would be the first in a series of meetings on the crisis, Bush said they will focus on five objectives.

The objective are, he said, understanding the causes of the crisis, reviewing effectiveness of responses thus far, identifying principles for reforming financial and regulatory systems, launching a specific action plan to implement those principles and reaffirming the conviction that free market principles offer the surest path to lasting prosperity.

Bush argued that as the objectives are being pursued nations can build on what has been achieved thus far.

“… Since the outbreak of the crisis, the world’s leading nations have coordinated our actions more closely than ever before. Thanks in large part to these decisive measures, global credit markets are beginning to thaw. Businesses around the world are regaining access to essential short-term financing. And stability is beginning to return to the international financial system,” he said.

Bush also sought rejection of calls for “protectionism, collectivism, and defeatism” in the face of the current challenge.