European and Asian leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday initiated discussions to find a coordinated global response to stem the financial turmoil and the spectre of recession sweeping the world.

Singh, who arrived on Thursday night from Tokyo to attend the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit, said he hoped the meeting will come out with a solution to the many global problems triggered by the US credit crunch.

"This is the first time I am attending the ASEM as Prime Minister. I sincerely hope that this meeting of minds between Europe and Asia will produce a solution to many global problems including the international financial crisis," Singh said on his arrival.

Earlier, in Tokyo, Singh, an eminent economist, had said that the world was facing "multiple challenges".

"The spectre of recession in the global economy, coming as it does in the wake of the steep rises of energy and food prices, threatens to disrupt the rhythm of economic development in many developing countries," he said.

Developing countries like India are also affected by the crisis and have to be part of the solution, he had stressed.

"We cannot afford to risk the gains we have made in the last few years. Nor do we wish to remain vulnerable to infirmities in international surveillance, supervision and regulatory mechanisms in the future," the Prime Minister had said.

The same subject was brought up repeatedly at a series of leaders' meetings held here yesterday.

"We sink together or we swim together," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters in Beijing.

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