MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bush invites G20 for crisis summit on November 15

Bush sets date for financial summit

Unites States President Bush invited leaders of the Group of 20 participants to a summit in Washington on November 15 on the global economic crisis announced the White House on Wednesday.

G-20 members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. The summit is the first in a series and will also be attended by the winner of the US election. The meeting, to be held in the Washington DC area, will consider the reforms needed to avoid another financial crisis and look at the progress being made so far. "The leaders will review progress being made to address the current financial crisis," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. In order to avoid a repetition of the crisis, she said they would "agree on a common set of principles for reform of the regulatory and institutional regimes for the world's financial sectors". Later summits will focus on working out the details of the reforms needed. Some European leaders had pushed for a summit before the end of the year, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had said it should take place in New York. Among those expected to attend the summit will be leaders from the G20 group of nations, which includes the G7 group of major industrial economies, as well as key emerging-market countries such as China, India, Mexico and Brazil. The head of the International Monetary Fund, the president of the World Bank, the United Nations secretary general and the chairman of the Financial Stability Forum have also been invited to participate.