Obama: G20 brought economy back from brink
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PITTSBURGH — President Barack Obama asserted Friday that he and other leaders of the world’s 20 wealthy and developing nations took actions that “brought the global economy back from the brink” and saved or created millions of jobs.
“We leave here today confident and united,” Obama said at the end of a two-day summit to deal with the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
He spoke as world leaders lined up behind sweeping promises designed to fix a malfunctioning global economic system in hopes of heading off future financial meltdowns.
The leaders agreed to leave stimulus programs in place for now until recoveries are more firm.
“We must make sure that when growth returns, jobs do too,” Obama said at a wrap-up news conference. “We brought the global economy back from the brink. We laid the groundwork today for long-term prosperity.”
In a statement issued at the conclusion of the summit, the full Group of 20 leadership echoed Obama’s sentiment. “It worked,” the statement said of stimulus and other measures taken by the world leaders.
Obama said that tough new financial regulations backed by the G20 summit would help avoid another economic crisis.
He also said that G20 leaders would spare no effort to reach a global-warming agreement at an international gathering later this year in Copenhagen. Summit leaders agreed to a bid by Obama to reduce government subsidies for fossil fuels such as oil and coal linked to global warming. He said if fully implemented, the move would phase out $300 billion in global subsidies.
The G20 moved to give China and other fast-growing economies a bigger say in decision-making and to crack down on greedy bankers.
They agreed to require members to subject their economic policies to the scrutiny of a peer review process that would determine whether they were “collectively consistent” with sustainable global growth. They promised tighter and more coordinated financial regulation.
And, repeating pledges from G20 summits in November and April, when financial panic was rampant, they vowed anew to “reject protectionism in all its forms.”
While issuing the lofty vows, the leaders failed to define how to accomplish many of them and were quickly back to bickering over details. They did not suggest, for instance, how the peer review process would be enforced.
