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G20 out to choke off terrorists' funding

Riot police take down a protester during G20 protests in downtown Ottawa, Canada on Friday. PHOTO: AP

Finance ministers from around the globe are trying to cobble together international standards for cutting off terrorist funds, the biggest issue of a meeting moved to Canada amid security concerns in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Group of 20 meeting officially began with a Friday night dinner, although participants held several private meetings and news conferences earlier in the day.

Policy-making bodies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will also hold talks in Ottawa this weekend after the terrorism attacks postponed a meeting they had planned for late September in Washington.

Security was tight in the heart of Canada's capital, where police have blockaded downtown streets surrounding the venues of the meeting.

Several hundred anti-globalization protesters roamed downtown streets on Friday.

Some smashed the windows of a McDonald's restaurant and knocked down barriers at one spot along the security perimeter. Four people were arrested, and five were reported injured.

More protests were expected yesterday, but police expect fewer numbers than the tens of thousands during April's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. Local activists say the Sept. 11 attacks have caused them to reconsider protest methods.

During the weekend meetings, participants are focusing on how to crack down on terrorist assets, searching for a set of standards acceptable to major powers such as the US and other nations such as Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

In a luncheon speech Friday, Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin said richer countries should help poorer nations carry out a coordinated, international fight against terrorists.

"Tracking networks of terrorist funding is a challenge for the most powerful of nations," he said. "Imagine, therefore, how overwhelmed small or impoverished states will find the task without financial and technical assistance."

While major US allies such as Canada have joined Washington in seizing and freezing assets of terrorists, it may be harder to see similar action from Islamic nations, said Sherman Katz, an international business expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

``The weak ones are the Saudi Arabias of the world,'' he said.

Mexican Finance Secretary Francisco Gil Diaz indicated support for the US call to crack down on terrorist funding, saying he expected a "good result" from the meetings.

"The only way to achieve success is by working together," he said.

Finance ministers also are expected to talk about how the sluggish global economy will affect their nations.

"Every country has to have its objective economic growth, and then also has to recognize their responsibility for economic growth, not only nationally, but in fact internationally," Martin said.

The G20, created in 1999 to address international financial concerns, represents the EU and 19 nations: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US.
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