Full Text: G20 Summit Official Communique
(Source: G20 London Summit)
1. We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, met in London on 2 April 2009.
2. We face the greatest challenge to the world economy in modern times; a crisis which has deepened since we last met, which affects the lives of women, men, and children in every country, and which all countries must join together to resolve. A global crisis requires a global solution.
3. We start from the belief that prosperity is indivisible; that growth, to be sustained, has to be shared; and that our global plan for recovery must have at its heart the needs and jobs of hard-working families, not just in developed countries but in emerging markets and the poorest countries of the world too; and must reflect the interests, not just of today’s population, but of future generations too. We believe that the only sure foundation for sustainable globalisation and rising prosperity for all is an open world economy based on market principles, effective regulation, and strong global institutions.
Transcript: Barack Obama, Gordon Brown Press Conference, April 1
Foreign and Commonwealth Building
London, United Kingdom
10:15 A.M. (Local)
PRIME MINISTER BROWN: The whole of the United Kingdom welcomes President Obama and the First Lady on your first official visit to our country. President Obama, you have given renewed hope not only to the citizens of the United States of America, but to all citizens in all part of the world. And I want to thank you for your leadership, your vision and your courage, which you’ve already shown in your presidency, and congratulate you on the dynamism, the energy and, indeed, the achievements that you have been responsible for.
Transcript: Presidents Obama, Medvedev in London, April 1
(Source: White House Press Office)
Winfield House
London, United Kingdom
1:01 P.M. (Local)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Let me just make a brief comment. I am very grateful to President Medvedev for taking the time to visit with me today. I’m particularly gratified because prior to the meeting our respective teams had worked together and had developed a series of approaches to areas of common interest that I think present great promise.
PM Brown Lays Down the Gauntlet in Joint Appearance with Obama
At first I wondered if the headline writer for the G20′s London Summit website got a little ahead of the principals.
At 11 a.m. EDT here in the U.S., the top story on the front page was headed: World ‘a few hours’ from global plan for economic recovery and reform. That’s a big statement. It’s like, get all these powerwigs together and poof, crisis over.
Well, it’s what U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said earlier today in a news conference with President Barack Obama:
Mr Brown said the ‘first duty’ of the world leaders gathering in London was to the ordinary people suffering as a result of the global economic crisis and anxious about their jobs, their mortgages and their futures.
‘We are within a few hours, I think, of agreeing a global plan for economic recovery and reform and I think the significance of this is that we are looking at every aspect,’ he said.
I’m looking forward to today’s later presser – the one with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Merkel spent the weekend telling anyone who would listen that there’s too much spending going on, while Sarkozy has taken to blaming the whole economic mess on the “Anglo-Saxons.”
I think things boil down to this on the eve of the Summit. Brown and Obama want more worldwide stimulus and cooperation on regulatory reform for the financial system. Merkel and Sarkozy are off tilting at windmills talking about ‘offshore tax havens’ and hedge funds – neither of which have anything to do with the root cause of the worldwide slump.
Perhaps Brown knows something the rest of us don’t, something that will be revealed “within a few hours.”
