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'wonderful working with our Dutch allies'

'the Dutch “3D” approach – defense, diplomacy, and development – pursued simultaneously, which may sound familiar to some of us, is a model for our own efforts and the future efforts in Afghanistan. There’s a lot of work for us to do there...'

'I also want to thank the Dutch Government for their leadership in the G-20 process. The successful London Summit was enhanced by the prime minister and the foreign minister’s strong support for open markets and opposition to protectionism. We know that the Dutch economy has been hard hit by this global downturn. With the world’s seventh largest international financial sector, the Netherlands is a major participant in the global economy...'

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen of the Netherlands met with Secy. of State Hillary Clinton in

Washington, DC on April 20, 2009. Here are their comments to the press which covered a wide range of foreign policy issues:

White House - from Summit - Microfinance Growth Fund to help Small Business in Americas

From the White House, announced at The Summit of the Americas: New $100 Million Microfinance Growth Fund for the Western Hemisphere:  The global credit crisis is having a significant and harmful impact on the availability of finance for micro and small businesses that provide a majority of the jobs in the Hemisphere.  This is one of the factors jeopardizing recent hard won gains in reducing poverty.  While the region has a wealth of microfinance institutions, these lenders are now confronting a serious shortage of private finance from both international and local sources.  As the supply of lending is shrinking, the demand for smaller loans is expanding as job loss escalates and the newly unemployed are falling back on micro and small enterprises as their sole source of income.  To address this shortfall, the Treasury Department brought together key U.S. and multilateral institutions to develop a rapid response.

G-20 in 10 verbs --> RESPOND... RESTORE... SUPERVISE... REGULATE... ENSURE... SUSTAIN... FUND... REINVIGORATE... PREVENT... & EXPLAIN.

The London Summit released a document on 'London Summit Outcomes' explaining decisions taken at the G20 on issues such as financial regulation, economic growth, global trade and helping the world’s poorest countries/people.

READ THE COMPLETE (FULL TEXT) OF G-20 LONDON SUMMIT OUTCOMES document.

Here are some highlights of the document, that explains some of the 'Real action' that was agreed to at the G-20 Summit in London:

Restoring Confidence, Jobs, and Growth -- A series of financial market events beginning in 2007 has culminated in the worst international banking crisis in generations... In response to these events, governments of the G20 nations have agreed to take action to accelerate the return to trend growth and support families and businesses through the recession...
Strengthening financial supervision and regulation -- Problems in the financial sector and weaknesses in supervision were one of the fundamental causes of the crisis. Increased lending and securitisation of assets
reduced transparency and exposed the banking system to high levels of systemic risk...
Funding and reforming our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones...The global financial crisis has resulted in the seizing up of international financial markets that are essential for keeping the world economy functioning. The effects of this have been particularly felt in developing and emerging economies...
To ensure international financial institutions have the resources needed to provide responsive and effective support to developing economies – which have been key factors in world economic growth over the last ten years and are vital to ending the global recession – G20 Leaders have agreed to resources available through the IFIs by $850 billion.

Promoting global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity Trade is vital for the health of the global economy: The more open to trade economies are, the greater the benefits.
exacerbated by growing protectionist pressures, but also the drying up of trade credit
The G20 leaders stated that reinvigorating world trade and investment is essential for restoring world growth and leaders agreed on action to stop the slowdown in world trade...

Ensuring a fair and sustainable recovery for all...Build an inclusive, green, and sustainable recovery;  -- The global financial crisis affects all countries, rich and poor, and the response will also affect all– both rich and poor countries now, but also future generations. Leaders recognised the human dimension to the crisis and committed to support those affected by creating employment opportunities and through income support measures. And they stated their determination not only to restore growth but also to lay the foundation for a fair and sustainable world economy.

READ THE COMPLETE (FULL TEXT) OF G-20 LONDON SUMMIT OUTCOMES document.

G-20 Leaders Comment -- Asia | Pacific, Middle East, Africa

Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister, Australia

'Given that this is a global economic challenge, only the G20 has the global economic reach to provide the response necessary to begin to mend this global economic recession and to support the restoration of jobs around the world.'

Taro Aso, Prime Minister, Japan  

'I have renewed confidence that the world's largest and the second-largest economies can work together by joining hands.'

Lee Myung-bak, President, Republic of Korea
'The recovery of the global economy will depend on actions the US Government takes. It's very important for us to strengthen international co-operation so that global economies can co-ordinate large fiscal stimulus packages and we can recover together.'

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia

'What they are in need, as they say, is the restoration of confidence. I think that if the big world economies get acquainted with means of cooperation among them, then they will become capable of surpassing the crisis as they surpassed previous crises.'

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister, Turkey

'I will meet with the managing director of the Fund during the G-20 Summit in London on April 1-2. After completing the talks process, we will sign an agreement. If we cannot agree with IMF officials, then we keep on preserving current conjuncture.'

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President, Indonesia

'I attend the G-20 meeting in order to discuss leaders of major countries on how to jointly overcome the global crisis [and] voice Indonesia's interest, so that our economy could be managed and our people could be protected, though there are obstacles.'

Kgalema Motlanthe, President, South Africa

'No country can respond to the global financial crisis in isolation. South Africa's banking system will play a key role in ensuring that we come out of the global economic re

G-20 Latin American Leaders

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President, Argentina

'We are going to discuss how to address the globalisation avalanche which has led to the collapse of sacred icons and totems which had been enshrined and about which nobody could discuss or question without the risk of being considered a heretic.'

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President, Brazil

'Protectionism at this point would, in my opinion, make the economic crisis worse. If we shut off international commerce it would be like taking a fish out of water, it's going to lack air.'

Felipe Calderon, President, Mexico

'We always believe that, particularly in difficult times, protectionism is not the correct answer is the wrong answer. If something can be learned from the crisis of the mid-30 is that the imposition of protectionist measures and encouraging slows the recovery of the Mexican economy.'

LOOK at G-20: World Leaders Descend on London

G20 Photos and Comments by the leaders of INDIA, RUSSIA and CHINA

'The G20 has an important role to play in addressing the global economic and financial slowdown by taking coordinated and purposeful action. It is important and necessary for the Summit to take credible decisions which will help to halt and reverse the current slowdown and to instill a sense of confidence in the global economy.'

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
meets with UK PM Gordon Brown  April 1st 2009

'If you ask what we are proposing, it is simply a more equitable international financial system. In principle all states are talking about this. The issue is where to put the emphasis and whether we want to move forward or simply remain stuck in the situation we have today. Our position is that we need to move forward. I hope that this position will be well-received by our partners during my visit to London for the G20 summit.'

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
at 10 Downing Street, April 1st 2009

 

'Challenge and opportunity always come together. Under certain conditions, one could be transformed into the other.'

 

Chinese President, Hu Jintao
Arriving at 10 Downing Street, April 1st 2009

Photos provided by the London Summit. Limited Use / Crown Copyright

G-20 today

Scheduled events for the G20 London Summit April 1st 2009, Evening:               

Reception hosted by Her Majesty The Queen and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Dinner for Heads of Delegation at 10 Downing Street, hosted by The Rt Hon Gordon Brown, Prime Minister

UK -- G-20: 'It's all about values.'

G-20 Focus on 'Enduring Values' by UK host Prime Minister Brown

Here are over a dozen references to 'VALUES' in the British P.M.'s major G-20 speech, as he prepares to welcome leaders from across the world:

• ...And today he and I want to discuss with you not the details of specific or technical financial programmes or policies, but instead enduring values - indeed the enduring virtues - that we have inherited from the past which must infuse our ideals and hopes for the future.
• And I want to suggest to you today that this most modern of crises, the first financial crisis of the global age, has confirmed the enduring importance of the most timeless of truths - that our financial system must be founded on the very same values that are at the heart of our family lives, neighbourhoods and communities.
• Instead of a globalisation that threatens to become values-free and rules-free, we need a world of shared global rules founded on shared global values. I know it’s hard to talk about the future when you’re having a tough time in the present. You don’t redesign a boat in the midst of a storm.
• But we need to talk about the future - because it falls to us to shape it. When Dr Martin Luther King talked about the fierce urgency of now, he asked us to awaken to a ttde in the affairs of men which if missed means you can end up being literally too late forhistory.
• ...There are four great global challenges our generation must address urgently financial instability in a world of global capital flows, environmental degradation in a world of changing energy need, violent extremism in a world of mass communications and increased mobility, and extreme poverty in a world of growing inequalities.
• Answering these questions will determine whether people have continued faith in globalisation, in multilateralism and in modernity itself. And what these challenges have in common is that none of them can be addressed by one country or one continent acting alone. None of them can be met and mastered without the world coming together. And none of them can be solved without agreed global rules informed by shared global values.
• The oil price crisis last year, the financial crisis this year, and a climate change crisis every year, all mean that we are not at a moment of change we are in a world of change. Twenty years ago only one billion people were part of the world’s industrial economy - but now 4 billion are. For centuries people rarely moved even from their home town, now every single year 200 million people - the equivalent of the whole populations of Britain, Germany and France - move from their country of birth - and next year another 200 million will do so again...
• And the sensible limits to markets agreed in one country became undermined by global competition between all countries as each raced to the bottom. Instead of banks being, as they should be, stewards of people’s money, some of them became speculators with people’s futures.
• I say to you plainly the world of the old Washington Consensus is over, and what comes in its place is up to us Instead of a global free market threatening to descend into a global free for all, we must reshape our global economic system so that it respects the values we celebrate in our everyday lives.
• For I believe that the unsupervised globalisation of our financial markets did not only cross national boundaries - it crossed moral boundaries too. In our families we raise our children to work hard and to do their best and do their bit We don’t reward them for taking irresponsible risks that would put them or others in danger, and we don’t encourage them to seek short-term gratification at the expense of long term success...
• And so our task today is to bring our financial markets into closer alignment with the values held by families and business-people across our country. Yesterday I said there were five tests for the G20, and the first of these is to clean up the global banking system.
• Most people want a market that is free, but never values-free, a society that is fair but not laissezfaire. And so across the world our task is to agree global economic rules that reflect our enduring values.
• That means rules that make transparent the risks that banks take, rules that bring hedge funds and shadow banking inside the regulatory net, rules that force banks to hold sufficient capital and ensure their liquidity, rules that require boards who understand their business and take responsibility for the decisions they take, and systems of pay and bonuses that reward people for long term value and not short term risk taking...
• And we can now see that markets cannot self regulate but they can self destruct and, again if unbridled and untrammeled, they can become not just the enemy of the good society, but the enemy of the good economy too. Markets are in the public interest but not synonymous with it.
• And the truth is that the virtues we admire most and make society flourish - hard work, taking responsibility, being honest, being fair - these are not values that spring from the market, they are the values we bring to it. They don’t come from market forces they come from the heart, and they are the values nurtured in families and in schools, in our shared institutions and our neighbourhoods.
• So markets depend upon that which they do not create - they presuppose a well of values and work at their best when these values are upheld. And that is why what I argued controversially some time ago is now in my view more generally agreed, that there are limits to markets just as there are limits to states.
• Just as in the 1970s and 80s people felt government was too powerful in the grip of vested interests that had to be channelled to work in the public interest, so too it is now clear that financial markets can become too powerful and come to be dominated by vested interests of their own. And so it falls to us, supporters of free markets, to save free markets from the most dogmatic of free marketeers.
• To say this is not anti-business, anti-private sector or anti-market. Quite the contrary - my point is that strong rules rooted in shared values are the best way to serve both ourselves and our market system. Markets need morals.
• The reason I have long been fascinated by Adam Smith who came from my home town Kirkcaldy is that he recognised that the invisible hand of the market had to be underpinned by the helping hand of society, that he argued the flourishing of moral sentiments is the foundation of the wealth of nations.
• So the challenge for our generation is whether or not we can formulate global rules for our financial and economic systems that are grounded in our shared values.
• Now that people can communicate instantaneously across borders, cultures and faiths, I believe we can be confident that across the world we are discovering that there is a shared moral sense. It is a sense strong enough to ensure the constant replenishment of that well of values on which we depend and which must infuse our shared rules.
• And when people ask can there be a shared global ethics that will lie behind global rules, I answer that through each of our heritages, our traditions and faiths, there runs a single powerful moral sense demanding responsibility from all and fairness to all.

READ THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER'S FULL SPEECH

UK P.M. Brown on G-20: 'A decisive moment...London’s big chance to lead'

Here are some highlights from Prime Minister Gordon Brown's article (London Evening Standard) regarding the G-20 Summit.

The eyes of the world will be on the capital this week and I know that London will rise to the occasion. I am very much looking forward to welcoming to the city the leaders of the G20 countries, the world's largest economies. I can't promise that the week will be completely hassle-free for commuters and residents but I can assure you that everyone is working hard to keep disruption to a minimum. I know the city will cope admirably and Londoners, as they have done so often in the past, will extend a warm and generous welcome to our visitors...

The most important benefit will be the opportunity to agree further co-ordinated action to create jobs, tighten and toughen up banking rules, increase support and bank lending for businesses and protect families in London and across the world...

This is a decisive moment for the world economy. Growth has stalled around the world. We have a choice to make. We can either let the recession run its course and retreat into isolationism - a "do nothing" approach that will push us further into recession. Or we can resolve as a world community to unite, to act and fight back against this global recession that is hurting people in every country in every continent. This is the test we face in London this week.

World Leaders head to London to 'Restore confidence and ensure a lasting global recovery'

1. We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty met, for a second time, in London on 2 April.
Over the last half c entury strong growth and increasing international trade has brought untold jobs and prosperity to our citizens. We now face the greatest challenge to the world economy in modern times, a crisis affecting the lives of ordinary men, women, and children around the world. A global crisis requires a global solution.

  2. We believe that an open world economy based on market principles, effective regulation, and strong global institutions will ensure a sustainable globalisation with rising prosperity for all. We are determined to restore growth now, resist protectionism, and reform our markets and our institutions for the future. We have agreed actions to meet these challenges as part of an integrated strategy that will restore confidence and ensure a lasting global recovery. We are determined to ensure that this crisis is not repeated.

G-20 Plan for 'Restoring global growth NOW'

Restoring global growth for the Immediate / Near Term
Items 3-10 in G-20 Plan or G20 draft communiqué

3. We are taking unprecedented and concerted fiscal actions to support growth and jobs. Acting together we strengthen the impact of this fiscal expansion, which amounts to a stimulus of more than [$x trillion] this year and next and is expected to increase output by more than [2] percentage points and employment by over [20] million jobs1. We are committed to deliver the scale of sustained effort necessary to restore growth while ensuring long-run fiscal sustainability.

4. Our central banks have also taken exceptional action, cutting interest rates aggressively and to close to zero in many advanced economies. Our central banks have pledged to maintain expansionary policies as long as needed, using the full range of monetary policy instruments, including unconventional policy instruments, consistent with price stability.

5. We are taking comprehensive action to strengthen our financial institutions in order to restore domestic lending and international capital flows. We have made available over [$x trillion] of support to our banking systems to provide liquidity, recapitalise financial institutions, and address the problem of impaired assets. We are committed to take all necessary actions to restore the flow of credit through the financial system and ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions, acting within the agreed G20 Framework for Restoring Lending. These measures underpin and strengthen the impact of our fiscal and monetary policy actions.

6. Emerging and developing countries, which have been the engine of recent world growth, are now facing shocks which threaten stability and jeopardise the global economy. It is imperative that capital continues to flow to them. We have therefore agreed to make [$x] of resources available through the international financial institutions. This will finance counter-cyclical spending, bank recapitalisation, infrastructure, trade finance, debt rollover, and social support. To this end:

• we have agreed to increase the resources available to the IMF to $[x] through bilateral borrowing from members of $[x] subsequently replaced by an expanded New Arrangements to Borrow of $[x] and borrowing in the market of up to $[x] if necessary; we support a substantial increase in lending of $[x] by the Multilateral Development Banks; we will make available $[x] over the next two years to support trade finance through our export credit and investment agencies and through the MDBs. We have asked our regulators to make use of available flexibility in capital requirements for trade finance.

7. We will ensure these resources can be used effectively to meet the needs of emerging and developing countries. The IMF should implement rapidly its new Flexible Credit Line for countries with strong policies and its reformed lending and conditionality framework. It should also double access to its low income country facilities.

8. We have agreed a general SDR allocation of $[x] to strengthen global liquidity.

9. The world’s poorest are most at risk from the crisis and we are resolved to support them. We remain committed to meeting the Millennium Development Goals and to achieving our ODA pledges including commitments on Aid for Trade. We are making available $[x] in social protection for the poorest countries, alongside investing in food security, and we support the World Bank’s Vulnerability Financing Framework.

We call on the UN to establish an effective mechanism to monitor the impact of the crisis on the poorest and most vulnerable. We have also asked the IMF to bring forward, by the Spring Meetings, proposals to use the proceeds of agreed gold sales to support low income countries.

10. These actions together constitute the largest fiscal and monetary stimulus, the most comprehensive support programme for the financial sector, and the greatest mobilisation of resources to support global financial flows in modern times. Our objective is that they will enable the global economy to expand by [x] by the end of 2010. We have taken and will continue to take the measures necessary to deliver this outcome. We call on the IMF to assess regularly the actions taken and the actions required.

The G-20 Plan for AN OPEN ECONOMY

An open global economy (G-20 draft plan items 11-13)

11. World trade is falling for the first time in [25 years]. We need to sustain the benefits of globalisation and open markets, and promote trade as a crucial driver of growth in the world economy. Therefore:

• we reaffirm the commitment made in Washington not to raise new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, including within existing WTO limits, not to impose new trade restrictions, and not to create new subsidies to exports.

We will rectify promptly any such measures. We extend this pledge for a further 12 months;

• we will notify promptly governments and other relevant institutions of any measures which have the potential to cause direct or indirect trade distortions;

• we will minimise any negative impact on trade and investment of our domestic policy actions including action in support of the financial sector. We will not retreat into financial protectionism;

• we commit to conduct our economic policies responsibly with regard to the impact on other countries and to refrain from competitive devaluation of our currencies.

12. We call on the WTO, together with the IMF and other international bodies as appropriate, to report on our adherence to these undertakings on a quarterly basis.

13. We are committed to reaching rapid agreement, on the basis of progress already made, on modalities leading to a successful conclusion of the Doha Round which would boost the global economy by at least $150 billion per annum.