
Our President has talked about a G-13 or G-14. There are India and China but also some countries from Latin America, Africa and the Arab world. When is it likely to happen? For us the answer is as soon as possible, please, and we are working to convince our partners that the sooner the better. The economic summit on November 15 will be a G-20 like summit which already exists at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the ministerial or technical level but never before at the heads of state and government level.
If we don’t enlarge the G-8, we will have a body which will be less and less able to cope with global challenges. Look at climate change: China produces about 10 percent of the world emissions -- how can you pretend to address climate change without China? India’s share is growing rapidly and India is bound to become one of the major economies and emitters in the world. Can you pretend to have a deal on climate change without India?
Take the financial crisis. We have made sure that we address in Europe the question of liquidity, the question of the safety of the deposits and the question of the capability of banks to return, as soon as possible, to normal business. Now, we all see that there is also a global picture to be addressed. When you talk about financial globalization, you talk about the need for transparency, about the coordination of rules of regulation, the need for better more effective regulation of some credit institutions. How can you do that in an efficient manner, if you don’t have everybody around the table?
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