`Group of 20' meets in an effort to save trade talks

Finance ministers from 20 nations launched a two-day meeting yesterday in Mexico to look for ways to revitalize the world economy and halt funding for terrorists.

Representatives from the "Group of 20" (G20) rich and poor nations, created in 1999 to help prevent financial disasters and keep the world economy stable, were also likely to discuss currencies and ways to get global trade negotiations back on track during their annual meeting.

US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and US Treasury Secretary John Snow were scheduled to attend the conference in Morelia, 215km west of Mexico City.

Snow was arriving from Madrid, Spain, where he helped convince nations from Japan to Saudi Arabia to pledge US$13 billion in new aid on top of more than US$20 billion from the US.

He has said he plans to urge Chinese officials to move more quickly to adopt a more flexible currency system, which American manufacturers blame in part for a loss of factory jobs because it keeps Chinese exports cheap.

It's an issue Snow said he plans to bring up in separate meetings with Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing (金人慶) and with China's central bankers.

The US wants China, the world's sixth-largest economy, to take steps to open its economy to more trade and investment that eventually will allow for a smooth transition to a freely floating currency.

"With China, we'll continue our currency discussion," Snow said.

The G20 agenda includes a closed-door discussion on the challenges of globalization led by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Anne Krueger, first deputy managing director of the IMF, Canadian Finance Minister John Manley, China's Jin Renqing and Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti.

Snow said he will continue to encourage countries to make politically unsavory decisions in the short term that benefit their economies in the longer run. He praised efforts in Italy, Germany and elsewhere to ensure public pensions don't bankrupt government budgets.

"In addition to good monetary and fiscal policy, growth depends on dealing with structural barriers that are buried inside the economies of these different countries," Snow said. "They are fundamental issues that have to be grappled with and dealt with and resolved to have growth."

Snow is scheduled to lead a presentation on efforts to track money used for terrorism.

Last month's failed WTO talks in Cancun aren't on the meeting's official agenda, but ministers are still expected to talk on the sidelines of the meeting about ways to get negotiations back on track. Many of the countries taking part in the talks were key players during the WTO meeting.

Mexican Foreign Secretary Ernesto Derbez called off the talks in Cancun, saying the WTO's 146 member nations had too many differences to reach an agreement on cutting agricultural and other subsidies.

Last year, during a meeting in New Delhi, the G20 agreed to phase out subsidies, knock down trade barriers, and eliminate money for terrorists.

The group is made up of the EU 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 US. Their economies account for about 80 percent of global income, and their people make up more than 60 percent of the world's population.