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Sarkozy urges G20 nations to focus on kick-starting growth

01 September 2011 08:56 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that he wanted to see concrete commitments at a G20 summit in November on a plan to get the world economy back to healthy growth.
France has pushed an ambitious agenda during its presidency of the Group of 20 industrialized nations, calling for a reduction in global imbalances, reform of the global monetary system and limits on speculation in commodities. Fears about the health of the U.S. and European economies have derailed some far-reaching plans, but Sarkozy is still keen for the G20 to show unity on the question of global economic growth and how to coordinate it.
"What we want at Cannes is for the G20 to agree on a plan of action for growth, including precise and concrete commitments from the main economies," he said during an opening speech for an annual conference of French ambassadors.
"Our first objective is to consolidate the recovery of the global economy. Growth is indispensable to create jobs, get billions of human beings out of poverty and reduce deficits and debts," said Sarkozy, whose G20 stewardship will end at the summit in the Riviera resort of Cannes.
Sarkozy also called on emerging countries, including China, to encourage domestic consumption in the interest of reducing global imbalances. "Everybody feels today that the absence of a balanced international monetary system is costly for the global economy," he said. "Since the Nanjing colloquium we have made progress. Today we have a precise and concrete agenda," he added, referring to a recent summit on G20 issues in the Chinese city of Nanjing.