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More Regulation Urged

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The Washington Post

Published: October 26, 2008

SHANGHAI, China - Leaders from Asia and Europe on Saturday called for new rules and stronger regulation of the global monetary and financial system at the close of a two-day summit in Beijing as China assumed a new leadership role in the crisis.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said the world's economic problems had become so massive that measures beyond the many billion-dollar bailout packages already announced might be necessary.

"We are very glad to see that many countries have taken measures that have initially proved effective. But this is not enough given the current situation, and more needs to be done," Wen said Saturday, a day after dire corporate earnings reports from all corners of the world pushed Wall Street to a five-year low.

The Asia-Europe Meeting, last held in 2006, traditionally does not result in policymaking. This year's gathering, however, had taken on a new urgency as the world teeters on the edge of a global recession.

In a joint statement, the more than 40 world leaders in attendance - including Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy - said they recognized "the need to improve the supervision and regulation of all financial actors, in particular their accountability" and pledged "to undertake effective and comprehensive reform of the international monetary and financial systems."

It was clear the groundwork was being laid for a Nov. 15 meeting on the crisis in Washington.

ECONOMIC NEWS

•Gulf Arab finance ministers said Saturday that strict monetary oversight has protected their nations from the global financial crisis and voiced confidence in their continued ability to stave off the meltdown that has hammered world markets. The ministers, representing the six oil-rich nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, met in the Saudi capital of Riyadh to take stock of the impact of the financial crisis.

•The head of the International Monetary Fund will remain in his job after the agency's executive board concluded that there is no cause for dismissal over an extramarital relationship. The IMF board of directors said the actions of IMF Managing Director Domique Strauss-Kahn did not involve any type of sexual harassment, favoritism or any other abuse of authority by Strauss-Kahn.

A wire report

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