Dr Glenda Stone meets with Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy
Dr Glenda Stone meets with Brown, Sarkozy and Barroso in mini-summit on world financial crisis.
Dr Glenda Stone attended a high-level meeting alongside Lakshmi Mittal, boss of steelmaker ArcelorMittal, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and CEO of French oil giant Total, Christophe de Margerie and other key business leaders and senior economists to discuss measures to revive the economy.
The mini-summit on the world financial crisis involved around 50 leading business leaders and economists. Hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the 'Global Europe Summit' was also addressed by President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The meeting preceded the European Council summit in Brussels on December 11 to 12. The aim of the Summit was to give coherence to different European rescue plans so that a message of confidence can be put forward by the European Council on the 11 and 12 December. Sarkozy, whose country held the rotating EU presidency, unveiled a rescue plan to inject 26 billion Euros into the economy in 2009. Brown's own bailout plan for Britain's banks in October drew plaudits from around the world and his government announced an economic stimulus package worth 20 billion pounds (30 billion US dollars, 23 billion Euros) at the end of November. The European Commission also proposed a 200 billion euro stimulus package aimed at hauling eurozone economies out of recession.
A German government spokesman denied that Chancellor Angela Merkel was annoyed at not being invited to the London event after reports Brown and Sarkozy were distancing themselves from her over frustrations she was not doing enough to boost Europe's biggest economy. "Because it is a bilateral meeting, we never expected that the chancellor would take part," said spokesman Thomas Steg.
The G20 group of major and developing economies will meet in London in April to discuss the economic crisis and reforms to world financial institutions. US president Barack Obama will be among those attending.
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