Crisis response must be broader than G20

WARSAW – Debate on how to solve the global economic crisis must be held in a forum broader than the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging nations, Switzerland’s economy minister said Friday.

"We believe that we must find new ways to discuss (the crisis). This kind of possibility must be created, because the G20 is not an appropriate solution in this case," Swiss Economy Minister Doris Leuthard said following talks with her Polish counterpart Waldemar Pawlak in Warsaw.

"We need a more democratic solution, a larger platform for collaboration, perhaps in cooperation with the United Nations," she said.

G20 heads of state are due to meet 2 April in London for a summit focused on the global economic crisis.

"The G20 is not a structure which can decide the new financial architecture, solutions to economic problems affecting today’s world, because it includes just 20 countries," Leuthard said.

"These kinds of problems must be addressed by international institutions," she said, suggesting the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and the UN.

The G20 includes the Group of Eight richest countries: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

It also includes the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.

The group accounts for 90 percent of world production, 80 percent of its trade and two-thirds of the global population.

AFP / Expatica