22 September 2008
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• Author: Heather Scoffield
• Source: The Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — The Group of Seven economic powers issued a joint statement of mutual support early Monday, but most of the G7 countries seemed content to let the United States do the heavy lifting in resolving the global financial crisis.

“We reaffirm our strong and shared commitment to protect the integrity of the international financial system and facilitate liquid, smooth functioning markets, which are essential for supporting the health of the world economy,” the G7 said in their joint statement. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, Macroeconomic Policy

22 September 2008
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• Source: Xinhua News Agency

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in remarks at the high-level meeting on Africa’s development needs on Monday, urged donor countries to implement their 2005 pledge to double their aid to Africa.

“I appeal to all donors to implement the 2005 Gleneagles summit to more than double aid to Africa,” Ban said, referring to the summit meeting held at the Scottish town of Gleneagles by the Group of Eight — the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development

22 September 2008
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• Source: Xinhua News Agency

BERLIN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday renewed her calls for an “international framework” to regulate financial market and promote transparency.

“These measures aren’t new, they have been elaborated at the G8 summit at Heiligendamm” during Germany’s presidency last year of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations,” Merkel said at a meeting of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Investment and Competition Policy

22 September 2008
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• Author: Glenn Somerville and David Milliken
• Source: Reuters News

WASHINGTON/FRANKFURT, Sept 22 (Reuters) - U.S. allies on Monday spurned entreaties from Washington that they enact large-scale financial bailouts, saying their banks were not exposed to the same level of reckless lending that put the American economy at risk of a deep recession.

While some European central banks offered more funding for stressed financial markets and Japan said it would offer dollar liquidity, finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations, who consulted by phone, issued only guarded promises to cooperate in efforts to keep market turmoil in check. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomic Policy, Investment and Competition Policy

22 September 2008
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• Source: Xinhua News Agency

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — The Group of Seven industrialized nations pledged Monday to do all they can to prevent a worsening global financial crisis from hurting the world economy.

“We are ready to take whatever actions may be necessary, individually and collectively, to ensure the stability of the international financial system,” G7 finance ministers and central bank governors vowed in a statement which was made available on the U.S. Treasury Department website. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

22 September 2008
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• Source: States News Service

The following information was released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury:

The Group of Seven Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors released the following statement today:

The G-7 held a conference call today to discuss global financial markets. We reaffirm our strong and shared commitment to protect the integrity of the international financial system and facilitate liquid, smooth functioning markets, which are essential for supporting the health of the world economy. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Investment and Competition Policy

22 September 2008
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• Source: Public Agenda (Ghana)

The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has stated the urgent need for G7 countries to fulfill their promises made in support of education in Ghana.

The resolution to leaders of G7 countries came after a roundtable by GNECC to assess donor commitments to education financing and its impact on basic education in Ghana; and as a prelude to the upcoming UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) emergency summit scheduled for September 25, 2008 in New York. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Education and Social Policy

21 September 2008
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• Author: Richard Armitage
• Source: Daily Yomiuri

In July, world leaders met in Toyakocho, Hokkaido, for the 34th Group of Eight summit. In advance of this meeting, the foreign ministers of the participating countries met in Kyoto to discuss major regional issues, among them Afghanistan. The outcome of that discussion was a Foreign Ministers’ Statement that renewed the G-8’s commitment to stability and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

In diplomatic circles, this statement was not a groundbreaker, but it did reaffirm Afghanistan as a focus of the world’s industrialized nations, placing it among the most important challenges faced by the international community. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Terrorism, Regional Security

20 September 2008
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• Source: Deutsche Welle

German Chancellor Angela Merkel indirectly criticized the United States and Britain on Saturday for blocking her government’s previous efforts to tighten regulation of financial markets and inject transparency.

Speaking in Austria on Saturday, Sept 20, Merkel said her government had tried in vain to win G8 support last year for tighter regulation of hedge funds and financial oversight of capital markets, hinting that she felt vindicated in her stance as a financial disaster unfolded on Wall Street in recent days. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance

19 September 2008
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• Source: AFX Asia

TOKYO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Japan could provide funds to organisations such as the International Monetary Fund to help the world economy deal with bad debt and weather the ongoing financial crisis, Finance Minister Bunmei Ibuki said on Friday. If international organisations discuss the creation of a framework with members of the G7 or the G8, and existing bodies such as the IMF can carry out the scheme, then Japan’s government could contribute funds while arranging to prevent losses on Japanese taxpayers’ money, he said. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

19 September 2008
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• Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev has said the G8 countries could have alleviated the consequences of the financial crisis which is rocking the world, international stream of Gazprom-owned Russian NTV reported on 19 September.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives of public organizations in the Kremlin on the same day, Mdvedev said: “During the G8 summit in Japan, we touched on this subject. However, unfortunately, our partners did not have enough will to discuss these questions as key problems. Maybe, if we had succeeded to agree on some rules of the game in a crisis, the consequences of the depression on the US fund and financial markets would have been much weaker. Of course, no-one can overcome this cyclical nature fully, but one could have alleviated the problems to some extent.”

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises

18 September 2008
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• Source: Reuters News

Sept 18 (Reuters) - Deputies from the Group of Seven finance ministries and central banks are regularly discussing the economic situation but no meeting of finance ministers is planned before their regular meeting in Washington in October, a G7 source said.

“We are talking regularly but no meeting is likely at this stage before the one in October,” the source, who is involved in G7 meetings, told Reuters. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises

18 September 2008
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• Source: Jiji Press English News Service

okyo, Sept. 18 (Jiji Press)–A meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers, held alongside the opening of a U.N. General Assembly session in New York every year, is seen to be canceled this year, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.

The prospect came as the United States and European nations are still at odds with Russia over the recent Georgian conflict, the official said. The United States is reluctant to sit down with Russia, the official added.

In addition, Japan, the current G-8 chair, may have difficulties sending its foreign minister due to the tight political schedule. A new cabinet is set to be formed shortly by the country’s next prime minister, who will be elected next week.

The G-8 countries are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Other

17 September 2008
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• Author: Mikhail Zygar
• Source: Russian Press Digest - Russica Izvestia

British Ambassador believes threat of Russia’s international isolation is exaggerated

British Ambassador Tony Brenton is leaving Moscow, after working here for four years and figuring in a number of major scandals. As he prepares to go, he met with Kommersant’s Mikhail Zygar and told him that the recent telephone conversation between Sergey Lavrov and David Miliband is good news, that after Georgia there is no doubt about the completion of the Nabucco project, what depends on Russia now and whether it will be ejected from the Group of Eight. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under East-West Relations and Russia

16 September 2008
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• Source: Reuters News

Italy will champion new rules to avoid financial crises like the current one when it takes on the presidency of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial nations next year, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said on Tuesday.

“It is not a bank that failed, it’s a whole system,” Tremonti said in an interview on state television when asked about the lessons to be learned from the failure of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under Global Financial Crises

16 September 2008
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• Source: Reuters News

Canada does not see a need for finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations to hold an emergency meeting on the U.S. financial crisis, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Tuesday.

Asked whether he would be open to such a meeting, he told Reuters: “Certainly we’re open to that. I don’t think it’s necessary at the moment because we are in daily communication. I speak frequently with the other finance ministers and the Bank (of Canada) of course is in touch with the other central banks,” he told Reuters in an interview. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under Global Financial Crises

16 September 2008
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• Author: Michael McHugh
• Source: Press Association National Newswire

Senior government representatives are to visit all members of the G7 group of leading industrial nations to discuss reforming the global financial system, the Prime Minister said today.

Talks will be held ahead of International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings as the economy struggles with the credit crunch and other economic pressures. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under Global Financial Crises

14 September 2008
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• Source: The Press Trust of India Limited

New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) As part of yet another attempt by WTO chief Pascal Lamy to clinch a global trade deal this year, officials of the key seven members of the world trade body, including India, US and EU, are reverting to Geneva on September 17 with “real Doha issues” back on the table.

This will be the first time that serious negotiations will resume at the WTO headquarters after the July meeting of trade ministers that ended in a fiasco, following which Lamy visited India and the US to bridge differences between the developed and developing countries on agriculture. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Multilateral Trade

14 September 2008
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• Author: Takashi Nakamichi
• Source: Dow Jones Chinese Financial Wire

TOKYO (Dow Jones)–Government officials and central bankers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations have been discussing, since the weekend, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc.’s (LEH) problems, and the talks are still going on, a Japanese government official said Monday.

The U.S. government has kept Japanese officials informed of what’s happening with the Lehman issue, said the official, who talked on condition of anonymity. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises

13 September 2008
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• Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

Moscow, 13 September: It will be a major blow to the G8 if Russia is excluded from the club, believes Aleksandr Pankin, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department for international organizations.

“What will the G7 lose if they lose their eighth member? They will lose a lot. Both politically and strategically it would mean entirely nullifying the G8’s work - not because they wouldn’t survive without us, but because there is talk about expanding the G8, about the fact that the G8 is insufficient, because this is confirmed by the ‘eight plus five’ format,” Pankin told journalists. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under East-West Relations and Russia

12 September 2008
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• Source: Inside U.S. Trade

Senior officials from the U.S. and other key negotiating partners in the Doha round this week failed to reach a breakthrough on a special agricultural safeguard for developing countries, which was the most immediate cause for the failure of a ministerial meeting in July.

One informed source said that while the Sept. 10 meeting focused on the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), officials did not discuss actual numbers on its controversial aspects such as the volume of import surges that would trigger increased tariffs or the extent of possible tariff remedies. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Multilateral Trade

12 September 2008
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• Author: Geoffrey Kemp
• Source: The Toronto Star

I am about to turn 70 years old, so along with all but two of the G8 leaders, I will be dead before 2050. But I am concerned about the world into which my small grandchildren will grow.

It is time to put climate change into context. The small child used as a political prop by Stephen Harper on the front of Tuesday’s Star will be in his mid 40s in 2050 and, along with his sister and their cohorts, will be responsible for overcoming the economic and environmental problems that Stephen Harper’s lack of leadership on climate change will cause. Doing next to nothing in Canada unless India and China make the same commitment is the act of a follower not a leader. Unable to reach agreement at the last summit, G8 leaders seemed to decide to each do their own thing, in some cases little or nothing. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Climate Change

10 September 2008
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• Author: D Ravi Kanth
• Source: Business Standard

In a bid to revive the Doha trade negotiations, India’s chief trade negotiator, Rahul Khullar, will tomorrow take part in a meeting of senior officials of the Group of Seven (G-7) countries being hosted here by the United States.

Ahead of this one-day meeting, senior trade officials from the United States, Brazil, Australia and the European Union discussed tentative proposals by Brazil and Australia to break the deadlock in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations, which collapsed due to unbridgeable differences over the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for developing countries. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Multilateral Trade

10 September 2008
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• Source: Agence France Presse

Japan is trying to arrange a meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers on the Georgia crisis but is facing opposition from an unspecified member country, a government official said Wednesday.

“Japan, as a chair of the G8, is coordinating a proposal to hold a G8 foreign ministerial meeting over Georgia, but the plan has not been finalised yet,” a senior foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under East-West Relations and Russia

10 September 2008
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• Source: Agence France Presse

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday there was “no doubt whatsoever” that Russia would be invited to next year’s G8 summit in Italy, despite the recent crisis over Georgia.

Moscow’s military interventions in Georgia have angered other members and US Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has called for Russia to be thrown out of the Group of Eight industrialised powers, while US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has warned their place is at stake. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under East-West Relations and Russia