by Xinhua Writer Yu Zhixiao

    BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Mauricio Alas, an immigrant from Salvador living in Los Angeles, is facing one of the gravest crises in his life.

    Unless he managed to pay the default mortgage for his 300,000-U.S.-dollar house by Friday, the banks that used to offer him zero down mortgage loans would evict his family out of their house.

    The family has tried to earn and save more, but their income is far from enough to pay the mortgage. Unless the banks agree to a new monthly payment of about 1,000 dollars, the couple's American dream of owning their own house will be shattered.

    Hoping to keep his house before the banks' deadline, Mauricio said "I wish the government could help us."

    Like the Mauricios, an estimated 2 million to 3 million families in the United States have lost or are about to lose their homes.

    China, the biggest developing economy in the world, has also fallen victim to the financial storm.

    As waning foreign demand batters coastal exporters, China has seen about 20 million out of 130 million migrant workers returning to their rural homes without jobs.

    "We've been looking for work for about 40 days," says 38-year-old Wang Zhengxiu, sitting outside a job fair in the industrial city of Guangzhou in southern China. "If we fail to find a job in another week, we will return home to Chongqing. We can't afford to live here without a job."

    The global financial crisis, triggered by the U.S. subprime mortgage crunch, has plunged the developed economies into a deep recession and caused mounting troubles for emerging and developing economies.

    According to the International Labor Organization, the number of jobless worldwide will rise to 210 million late this year, 10.5percent up from the 2007 figure, while the World Bank predicted that global growth would contract by 1.7 percent this year, the first decline since World War II.

    Against this backdrop, leaders of the G20 countries would meet Thursday in London to seek a coordinated response to the gravest economic downturn in decades.

    People like Mauricio and Wang have every reason to expect the summit will come up with concrete measures to help lift the world economy from its current crisis and help save their homes and offer them new jobs.

    Chinese President Hu Jintao said Tuesday that China has played a part in international cooperation to fight the crisis. China will continue to coordinate macro-economic policies with other countries and push for the reform of international financial system and help maintain multilateral trade system to contribute to the recovery of the world economy."

    There is consensus among world countries that the ongoing financial crisis is caused by unchecked greed of the Wall Street and ineffective financial regulation of some Western countries. Many countries, especially the emerging and developing economies, are calling for an overhaul of the existing global financial system.

    "The international financial system should undergo necessary reforms in an all-round, balanced, gradual and effective manner to prevent a similar crisis in the future," President Hu said.

    The Chinese government has proposed to create a super-sovereign reserve currency, which is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, as part of the reforms.

    "The proposal may not get approval from all nations at the upcoming G20 summit, but it would be good to see the idea discussed there. And this will serve as a foundation for future reforms," Tao Wenzhao, a senior researcher on U.S. studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told Xinhua.

    In his joint press conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama admitted that the United States is responsible for the current global financial crisis. But people expect the U.S. government to take more concrete action to reform the world financial system and help establish a fair international economic order.

    As Fu Ying, Chinese ambassador to UK put it in an interview with Xinhua, people do not expect the London summit to solve all problems at one stroke, but it is important under the circumstance that scores of countries and international organizations will speak in one voice about their resolve and confidence to jointly tackle the crisis.

    People would expect participants at the summit to reaffirm their opposition to protectionism and support to reform of international financial system, their commitment to better financial management and continuing assistance to the developing countries despite the current crisis.

    The London summit may not directly address the plights of people like Mauricio and Wang, but its messages of consensus, unity and cooperation will encourage people around the world to keep on and tide over the crisis.