Associated Press | By TRACI CARL | October 24, 2003
Finance officials from twenty rich and poor nations are looking for ways to revitalize the sluggish global economy and to get world trade talks back on track.
The failed World Trade Organization talks in Cancun aren't on the Group of 20's official agenda as finance ministers and bank governors hold their annual meeting starting Sunday in the mountains of western Mexico. But many of the countries taking part in two-day talks were key players during the WTO negotiations last month in Cancun.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Ernesto Derbez called off the talks in Cancun, saying there were too many differences between the WTO's 146 member nations to reach an agreement on cutting agricultural and other subsidies.
World leaders from the Pacific Rim failed to come up with a formula to break the impasse during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's summit this week in Bangkok, Thailand.
But leaders called on negotiators to go back to work on a text they had left behind, a decision that Mexican President Vicente Fox said will "push the World Trade Organization to return to a place where it can reach (its original) promised results and goals."
While the WTO talks will be a main topic on the sidelines of the meeting, the agenda will focus on jump-starting the world economy, said Rodrigo Brand, director of economic and financial research for Mexico's Treasury Department. He said finance ministers will be looking for ways to help developing economies grow.
He said the world economy relies too much on growth in the developed world, especially the U.S. economy.
"We can't have a machine with one engine," he said.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow were scheduled to attend the two-day conference in Morelia, 135 miles (215 kms) west of Mexico City.
Snow will be arriving from Madrid, Spain, where he urged other nations to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq.
He has said he plans to meet Chinese officials on the sidelines of the meeting to urge China to move more quickly in adopting a more flexible currency system. U.S. manufacturers complain that China's currency is undervalued, keeping Chinese exports unfairly cheap.
Last year, during a meeting in New Delhi, the G20 agreed to phase out subsidies, knock down trade barriers, and stamp out terror funding.
Annual discussions among the G20 nations - which account for about 80 percent of global incomes and 63 percent of the world's population - are aimed at promoting international financial stability, preventing and resolving crises, and encouraging free trade and development.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, the financial talks have also focused on how to curb funding to international terrorist groups.
The group, created in 1999, includes the European Union and 19 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Britain and the United States.Associated Press:
