MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil/US convene special meeting with emerging economies

CEO of G20 Minister Guido Mantega call a special summit next saturday

Following on a joint initiative from United States and Brazil the Group of 20, or G-20, will be holding an extraordinary meeting next Saturday in Washington to address the current financial global crisis and its impact on emerging economies.

The meeting was convened by Brazilian Finance minister Guido Mantega who is the current chairman of G20, a group made up of countries with strong farm sectors which was born during the recent trade talks of the Doha Round in the framework of the World Trade Organization. The meeting was agreed between Mr. Mantega and the US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who will be the opening speaker and is expected to give a picture of the current situation which has extended to the whole world. The purpose of this extraordinary meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents is "to discuss aspects of the world financial crisis and its impact on the global economy", points out a release from the Brazilian Finance Ministry. Earlier in the day the White House reported that President George Bush was on the phone with Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Germany's Premier Angela Merkel. G-20 is made up of finance ministers and central bank presidents from 19 countries: South Africa, Germany, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, US, France, UK, India, Indonesia, Italia, Japan, Mexico, Russia and Turkey. The European Union is represented by the president of the EU Central Bank Jean Claude Trichet.