The leaders gathered on Saturday in Toronto, Canada, at the G8/G20 found that the global economic recovery was still "fragile" and noted that the crisis had "compromised" certain development objectives of the Millennium, according to a draft final communique obtained by AFP.
The final release should be focused on the economy, financial regulation and reform of international institutions, without making specific recommendations for the participating countries, said a source at the G20. This source has nevertheless stated that a general agreement on deficit reduction could be found, but that each State may adopt its own schedule, allowing countries like the United States to maintain their recovery.
Reducing deficits
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has invited the G20 countries to fully implement their recovery plans and then industrialized countries to reduce their deficits and debt, said Saturday his spokesman Dimitri Soudas, told Reuters.Stephen Harper to open Saturday night the G20 at a working dinner, would mention the dates of 2013 for deficit reduction and 2016 to begin to reduce their ratio of debt to gross national product.
Dinner should enable the leaders of the G20 to discuss their strategies to "ensure a strong, balanced and sustainable" and "virtually every leader will have the opportunity to speak on this subject," added the spokesman.
The issue of bank charges raised
The dinner discussion will provide a "framework" for talks out Sunday on issues such as fiscal consolidation, financial sector reform, the international financial institutions, trade and fight against protectionism, said Mr Soudas.
Finally, the issue of bank charges should be addressed.Although Canada was opposed to the country said he understood that States which have financially supported their distressed banks now believe to implement this tax. The G20 communique should support this initiative by offering the choice for countries to introduce a tax on banks' on the national level, "other countries calling for another approach.
If Europeans should demand a tax on the G20 banks and other financial transactions. Other countries, like Canada and Japan, opposed to these projects, argue that their banks have weathered the crisis, should not be penalized in this way.