LONDON, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu
Jintao on Thursday called on the international community to join hands to tide
over the current global financial crisis at the second Group of 20 (G20)
financial summit here.
As the financial crisis continues to spread and
deepen and its impact on the world's real economy becomes increasingly evident,
the international economic and financial situation remains complex and grave, Hu
said.
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Chinese President Hu Jintao attends the
Group of 20 summit in London, Britain, April 2, 2009. (Xinhua/Ju
Peng) Photo
Gallery>>> |
The Chinese president called on the international
community to strengthen confidence to confront difficulties.
"We have the enabling conditions to tackle the
financial crisis," Hu noted, saying that the world economy is "on a solid
material and technological footing."
The world has far more macro regulatory tools than
before and also the common will to enhance coordination and cooperation, he
added.
"As long as we strengthen confidence and work
together, we will tide over the difficulties and achieve our shared goals," said
the Chinese president.
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Chinese President Hu Jintao (2nd R)
talks with British Prime Minister Gorden Brown (R) as they prepare to pose
for a family photo during the Group of 20 summit in London, Britain, April
2, 2009. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>> |
He then urged the international community to further
intensify cooperation to fight the crisis as no country can stay immune from the
crisis.
"The only right choice is for all of us to work
together and deal with it," he said.
Hu described the G20 as an important and effective
platform for concerted international efforts to counter the economic and
financial crisis.
At the summit, the Chinese president also called for
advancing reform of the international financial system, saying the world should
work together to build "a fair, just, inclusive and well-managed international
financial order."
Hu also stressed opposition to protectionism. "We
should work together to oppose trade protectionism in all manifestations and
reject attempts to raise the market access threshold under various excuses and
all forms of investment protectionism that harm the interests of other
countries," he said.
The Doha round of global trade negotiations is
crucial to global trade liberalization, he said.
In his speech at the summit which gathered leaders
from major developed and developing nations, the Chinese president urged further
support to developing countries in time of difficulty.
He called for minimizing the damage of the financial
crisis on developing countries and urged the world community, developed nations
in particular, to assume due responsibilities and obligations.
They should "continue to fulfill their commitments to
debt reduction and aid, take concrete measures to maintain and increase
assistance to developing countries, help them uphold financial stability and
promote economic growth," Hu said.
Speaking of the impact of the crisis on China, Hu
said the global financial turmoil has brought unprecedented difficulties and
challenges to China.
In order to combat the crisis and maintain steady and
relatively fast economic growth, China has made timely adjustment to its
macroeconomic policies, swiftly adopted a proactive fiscal policy and a
moderately easy monetary policy, and formulated a package plan to expand
domestic demand and boost economic growth, Hu said.
"China will continue to work with the rest of the
international community to enhance macroeconomic policy coordination, advance
the reform of the international financial system, maintain the stability of the
multilateral trading system and contribute its share to world economic
recovery," Hu told other leaders attending the summit in London.
At the summit in London, leaders of the G20 reached
consensus on how to save the world out of the financial crisis, including a
pledge of 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars to revive the world economy, a joint call to
fight protectionism, and concrete actions to tighten banking regulation.
Among the additional funds to be injected into
international financial institutions, 500 billion dollars will go to the
International Monetary Fund to support lending to countries hit hard by the
crisis, 250 billion dollars will be used to support a new Special Drawing Rights
(SDR), 100 billion dollars will support additional lending by the multilateral
development banks, and 250 billion dollars will be devoted to guarantee trade
finance.
The G20 leaders agreed on extending regulation and
oversight to all systematically important financial institutions, instruments
and markets, including systematically important hedge funds for the first time.
They also agreed on extending regulatory oversight
and registration to credit rating agencies to ensure they meet the international
code of good practice, particularly to prevent unacceptable conflicts of
interest.
The leaders reiterated their opposition to trade
protectionism and their readiness to boost global trade and investment.
They agreed another G20 summit will be held within
this year.