Thu, November 13, 2008
The White House expects global economic crisis talks in Washington to be "an important and vigorous discussion with some quite concrete results" but has underlined the summit will be the first in a series.
"We are expecting an important and vigorous discussion with some quite concrete results but as I said this is the first in a series. There will be further meetings," said Dan Price, a top aide to US President George W Bush.
Price, whose brief is international economic affairs, said he was "consulting very closely" with president-elect Barack Obama's transition team and would keep them informed up to his January 20, 2009 inauguration.
"We've had very, very detailed briefings, and we will continue to hold those briefings up and through and after the summit," he said, after Obama designated former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former Republican congressman Jim Leach to represent him.
Bush will open the talks at a formal dinner at the White House on November 15 for visiting heads of state and government from the so-called Group of 20, which groups wealthy countries and large developing economies.
The leaders meet all day Saturday at the National Building Museum in Washington in what US officials have emphasised is but the first in a series of international summits to address the meltdown.
Price played down talk of divisions among the United States and partners like France on what steps to take to avert future crises like the current meltdown, saying there was "a lot more common ground among countries who will be around the table than the rhetoric might suggest".
"This will be the first time that the G20 has met at leader level," he said at a White House briefing.
"We expect a very thorough discussion, as I said, of causes, of near-term actions to be taken, longer-term actions to be considered and importantly, agreement on fundamental principles for reform," he told reporters on Wednesday.
(Agencies)
