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Press Briefing by Daniel Price and David McCormick on the Summit on
Financial Markets and the World Economy
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary November 12, 2008

Press Briefing by Daniel Price and David McCormick on the Summit on
Financial Markets and the World Economy James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

˙˙Press Briefings


3:05 P.M. EST

MR. PRICE: Good afternoon. My name is Dan Price. I'm the Assistant to the
President for International Economic Affairs. And I'm here today with Under
Secretary of the Treasury Dave McCormick, and we're here to provide a
briefing on the financial summit.

We will do this in two parts. I will provide an overview of kind of the
structure of the summit and what some of our objectives are and how we
think it will go. And then Dave will take the podium to run through a
number of those areas where we believe there is sufficient common ground
that leaders may be in a position to take some near-term decisions and some
near-term actions.

So, starting at the beginning. Beginning this Friday evening, the President
is gathering leaders in the first of a series of meetings to discuss
efforts to deal with the present crisis, as well as to address longer-term
financial and economic challenges.

In terms of the participation at this meeting, some had initially proposed
that this summit be held among a relatively small group of countries, but
the President felt it was very important to have a broader mix of
countries, both developed and developing, from a number of regions to
participate in this discussion. So the President concluded after
consultations with other leaders that for this first summit, the Group of
20 offered a representative group of countries for an initial discussion,
and importantly, the G20 had established channels of communication among
officials to help both prepare for the summit and to continue work after
the summit. These countries, the countries of the G20 plus the EU, together
account for almost 90 percent of global GDP.

In addition to the leaders of the G20, the summit will be attended by the
heads of the World Bank and the IMF, as well as the U.N. Secretary General
and the Chairman of the Financial Stability Forum.

The President believes that the summit is an opportunity for a focused
discussion on the global financial market crisis, and an opportunity to lay
the foundation for making regulatory regimes more effective, fostering
cooperation among regulators, and bringing needed reform to international
organizations so that they may more effectively deal with today's global
economy.

The effort to reform the world's financial markets is not the work of a
single summit. So the summit on Saturday will be the first in a -- on
Friday and Saturday -- will be the first in a series of meetings to discuss
appropriate responses to the present turmoil in global financial markets,
as well as to help ensure long-term prosperity.

The process is not about moving to a single global regulator. Indeed, we
are unaware of any support from any quarter for empowering a single global
authority to regulate the world's financial markets. The financial market
turmoil has, however, clearly shown that there needs to be some changes in
today's financial regulatory structures because all markets, particularly
financial ones, are now closely interconnected.

So what are we likely to see at this summit? We think the discussion is
likely to focus in a number of key areas. First, the President hopes that
leaders will be able to reach agreement on a common understanding of the
root causes of the crisis.

Second, we believe that leaders will want to review what they have done and
will need to do to address the present crisis, as well as identify several
areas where immediate steps could be taken to address present challenges.

Third, based on that shared understanding of causes, we expect leaders will
discuss common principles for reform to guide future work so as to minimize
the possibility that a similar crisis could, in the future, occur.

In terms of principles, we expect the leaders' discussion really to focus
around four principles: first, strengthening transparency and
accountability; second, enhancing sound regulation by improving regulatory
regimes, credential oversight, and risk management; third, promoting
integrity in financial markets; and fourth, reenforcing international
cooperation both at the level of national regulators and laws, but also,
importantly, through reform of international financial institutions.

Fourth, to ensure that these principles are implemented, we expect that
leaders will want to come to an agreement on an action plan identifying
specific implementation measures.

Fifth, because this is an enormously complex area, we expect the leaders
will want to task work to develop recommendations to be considered by
leaders at a subsequent meeting.

Finally, and critically important from our perspective, the President
believes that leaders must bear in mind that as we work on these important
issues, that needed reforms will only be successful if they are also based
on a common commitment to free market principles, including open and
competitive economies, expanded trade, and increased investment in capital
flows. The President will, therefore, use this opportunity to urge his
fellow leaders not to turn inward or stifle markets. Protectionist rhetoric
about walling off markets or companies does not help stabilize markets, but
in fact leads to greater uncertainty. And history has shown us that
protectionist measures exacerbate, they do not moderate, periods of
economic instability.

Finally, the President expects that leaders will want to ensure that the
international financial institutions stand ready to support emerging and
developing economies that are being affected by the crisis and he will
emphasize, as he did at the recent White House Summit on Development, the
importance of donor countries following through on the development
assistance commitments they have made. Difficult economic times should not
be an excuse for walking away from promises made to those most in need.

I'd like to now turn it over to Dave McCormick to go into a little more
detail on some of the areas where we think early action may be taken, as
well as those areas for longer-term reform. And then we'll both take
questions. Thank you.

Dave.

UNDER SECRETARY McCORMICK: Thanks. Good afternoon. So in terms of the
discussion of the financial market turmoil and the reform agenda, we've had
a lot of interaction through the finance minister channels and through the
sherpa channels, and there's really two main areas that I would suspect
will get a lot of discussion. The first is near-term actions that countries
are taking or will take in the future to try to address some of the current
challenges we see in the markets and the current financial crisis.

So those would include things like fiscal measures to stimulate demand. And
you've seen in recent weeks a number of countries have announced very
significant plans in that area; others are considering those, and that's
certainly one area of policy where there will be a lot of discussion.

The second would be efforts to provide much needed liquidity in trade
finance to many of the emerging markets. So I was just in Brazil last
weekend. One of the things I heard -- and many of us have been hearing --
is that as this crisis has spread to other parts of the world, there are
many countries, developing countries' emerging markets where there's really
a credit crunch, and what can be done to provide liquidity. The Fed has
taken some actions with currency swaps, the IMF has taken some actions, but
that's certainly an area that will be ripe for discussion.

A third is the availability of needed resources within the international
financial institutions: the IMF, the World Bank, the regional development
banks. Those, of course, are in response mode, those institutions, to try
to address some of the challenges on the ground from a development
standpoint and from a macroeconomic standpoint. And so, are they an
appropriate resource? What do they need to do to be even more effective in
responding to the crisis?

And then finally, there's been a great deal of coordinated monetary policy,
and certainly that's something that will be addressed, as well, within the
context of the broader macroeconomic overview.

So those I suspect will get a fair amount of attention. In addition, there
will also be, as Dan described, a focused discussion around the reform
agenda. And it's an ambitious reform agenda. There's been a lot of work
already, but those are important steps on a much more significant path of
reform.

Within those four areas that Dan laid out -- transparency and
accountability, sound regulation, integrity in our financial markets, and
international cooperation -- there are a number of topics that leaders
might touch on. One under the area of transparency and accountability would
be global accounting standards. This has been an area that's gotten a lot
of attention, and by creating a more aligned and ultimately convergence of
global accounting standards, that reduces a huge burden on businesses and
ensures a level playing field in terms of how we measure the performance of
different businesses.

There's been a lot of discussion up until this point about the complexity
and the opaqueness of some of the products, the financial services products
that have been developed. So the role of regulators in enhancing the
transparency of those complex products will certainly be an area that I
suspect will be touched on, and then the importance of financial reporting,
and financial reporting in a way that captures all the activity under a
financial institution, both on balance sheet and off balance sheet
activity. These are the kinds of themes that we would expect to be touched
on under the broader heading of transparency and accountability.

There's also a lot that could be discussed under the notion of sound
regulation. Credit rating agencies have been something you've all probably
read a bit about and seen mentioned regularly by a number of different
officials. And certainly in the United States, we have led the effort and
the discussion to ensure that credit rating agencies need a higher
standard, an international code of conduct in terms of their conflict of
interest, their disclosure, in terms of the need for a differentiated scale
for evaluating these complex structure products versus the more traditional
products that credit rating agencies have been focused on. That's a problem
that's clearly been identified from the past; it would be a focus in the
discussions. And ensuring that these credit rating agencies have the right
incentives -- the right incentives to provide the appropriate information
to the investor, and have avoided the conflicts that may be inherent in the
current model.

I suspect, although it's a pretty technical issue, that there will also be
some discussion around credit default swaps, and this is an area that's
recently received a fair amount of discussion in the press, and finding
ways to provide greater transparency to the over-the-counter derivatives
market and over-the-counter derivatives transaction. This is a huge, many
tens of trillions of dollars market, and we need to have greater
transparency. We need to have an infrastructure that is able to accommodate
these huge volumes of trading that take place. And it's really been an area
that has been identified, but needs to have further momentum in terms of
how we address that from a policy standpoint.

The importance of assessing risk concentrations, from a regulatory
standpoint, and identifying some of the risk in the future that we didn't
see identified in the current situation would also be a focus.

In the area of financial integrity, the integrity of markets, there's been
a great deal of work done on our side in terms of the work of the SEC, in
terms of guarding against market manipulation and taking steps with policy
to guard against that. I suspect that will be discussed. As you've seen
over the last three or four months there's been a number of countries that
have rolled out policies in that area.

And then finally, in the area of reinforcing international cooperation,
there's really two strands of discussion that I suspect will be touched on.
One is the core missions and competencies of the international financial
institutions: How do they need to reform? How can we ensure that in the
future there's a great representation of the key players in the
international economy? How should their governance structures be reformed
to reflect the global economy as it exists today; how can it be more
effective, more transparent? So there's a whole reform agenda around the
international financial institutions that I expect will be touched upon.

One of the areas that I suspect you'll hear a bit about is the role of the
Financial Stability Forum and the IMF, and how to ensure that they are
integrated in terms of their respective roles. There's been some talk about
expanding the role of the FSF, and that's certainly an area that we have
believed over time that the FSF needs to be expanded to reflect better the
key financial centers around the world.

And then, finally, I suspect the leaders will touch on the importance of
finding ways to collaborate across global regulations. So regulations are
historically national, but we certainly recognize the need to collaborate
as much as possible and wherever possible to ensure that our regulations
are aligned, to make sure that they don't disadvantage one country over
another. And there may be a number of areas where our regulatory approaches
can converge. So, accounting is a great example of that, where it makes all
the sense in the world and it's to the benefit of everyone to have a common
accounting standard.

So, how regulations can be collaborated and aligned, how they can converge,
and how -- in the case if they truly are national regulations -- how we can
ensure that they don't disadvantage one country over another is really a
critical topic.

So I know that's a lot to throw at you, but I wanted to give you some sense
of the conversations that have led up to the leaders meeting, some of the
key things that I suspect will be on leaders' minds, and while, as I said,
that's a fairly technical discussion, that's actually a very powerful and
ambitious agenda. And I think it will hopefully lead to important steps
going forward.

Dan.

MR. PRICE: Let's open it for questions.

Q Isn't the downside potential greater than the upside possibility here? I
mean, isn't this a very risky summit, in which case, if things don't go
well both Bush and Obama could be seen as political losers?

MR. PRICE: We have, as a world community, very important issues before us:
issues of the global economy, issues of needed reforms to financial
markets. So we believe that the gathering of these leaders at this time is
timely, is appropriate. And as I said, the work before us is not the work
of a single summit, but we need to begin.

Q Do you think that Sarkozy and Gordon Brown have set the standards, the
expectations too high, perhaps?

MR. PRICE: I actually think that there is a lot more common ground among
countries who will be around the table than the rhetoric might suggest.

Q You spoke about protectionist language and how detrimental that would be,
and I can't help but wonder if you were in some sense sending a message
perhaps to President-Elect Obama and the Democrats who are talking about
help for the auto industry. Is this a chance, is this summit a chance to
kind of lay the groundwork for the Bush philosophy on these international
economic matters going forward into the next administration?

MR. PRICE: I think we have heard from many, if not all, countries of the
importance at this summit of addressing the need to keep the trade and
investment liberalization momentum going. Virtually all countries from whom
we have heard are hoping that coming out of this G20 summit will be a very
strong statement in favor of concluding a framework for the Doha agreement
this year. There is a great concern broadly shared among leaders that in
times of stress there may be a temptation to turn inward and that this
summit is an opportunity for all leaders to express their commitment that
the path to prosperity lies in more trade and investment liberalization,
not in erecting barriers.

Q Is that a message to President-Elect Obama?

MR. PRICE: As I said, this is something we have heard from virtually every
country that they very much want to have on this agenda.

Q On the trade issue, a lot of countries in those same statements don't
like it when other countries, their competitors, give subsidies to
industries. Have you heard from anybody about the auto industry, any
objections from any of the people that are coming about possible -- about
the money that the government is giving?

MR. PRICE: The discussions that I have had through the sherpa channels have
been focused on the level of policy and the importance of leaders sending a
strong signal.

Q So that's a no?

MR. PRICE: As I said, the discussion has been at the level of principals.
No one in our discussions, in the discussions that I have had, has raised
any issue about any particular sector.

Q Under Secretary McCormick, you mentioned in your remarks about near-term
actions, fiscal measures to stimulate demand, as one area of potential
significant discussion. Will the U.S. be pushing for a global -- or the G20
together, collectively, putting together a plan of X dollars of fiscal
stimulus?

UNDER SECRETARY McCORMICK: Well, what's clear is that every country is in a
different place in terms of where they are in responding to the crisis. And
so that makes, I think, the likelihood of everybody being at the same place
in terms of a fiscal measure very unlikely.

What we have seen -- as the crisis has spread to a number of the emerging
markets, you've seen just in the last several weeks a number of countries
come forward with fiscal measures. Of course, the United States had already
come forward with not only the fiscal stimulus, but a number of other
things that are stimulative in their nature -- the TARP and so forth.

But certainly, as we see a global slowdown, the fiscal measures that we're
seeing around the world are an important part of the discussion and an
important part of ensuring that the slowdown is dampened as much as
possible.

Q And as a follow-up, you both have mentioned the IMF's role in this and
making sure it has the resources to do its job, which everyone seems to
acknowledge is growing significantly. Will the U.S. be pushing for a wider
or a bigger capital injection to the IMF to help developing countries and
some that are developed and having trouble?

UNDER SECRETARY McCORMICK: Well, the IMF has about $200 billion of lending
capacity. And if you look at the programs that have been initiated in
recent months, it's used a portion of that, but a relatively small portion.
So it's not clear that the needs at the moment exceed the availability of
credit that the IMF has.

With that said, we recognize that we're in territory here where we need to
be able to respond, both on a bilateral basis and a multilateral basis, and
so we need to be thinking constructively about all the international
financial institutions to make sure they have the resources and the focus
that we need them to have to respond to what we're seeing around the world.

Q So it will be part of the discussion then?

Q We learned that the incoming Obama administration will be sending
representatives to the summit this weekend. Can either of you gentlemen
elaborate on the level of their participation? Will they be simply
observing? Will they be able to ask questions? Will they, even more
importantly, be able to raise objections if they have any?

MR. PRICE: I can say this. I have been consulting very closely with the
designated member of the Obama transition team on both the substance and
process of the summit. We've had very, very detailed briefings, and we will
continue to hold those briefings up to and through and after the summit.

Q And, again, I'd like to be clear -- so will they simply be sitting and
listening? Can they ask a question? Is there any way you can explain to us
what they'll be doing?

MR. PRICE: We have had no discussions with them concerning participation in
the actual meeting. I believe -- Tony, correct me if I'm wrong -- I believe
President-Elect Obama -- his team has made clear that the President-elect
does not intend to participate. We have one President at a time, as he has
said. That said, I can only say that I am consulting very closely with the
designated person on the transition team and keeping that person fully
apprised.

Q Are you concerned about avoiding any awkwardness, I guess, is what I'm
wondering -- if they will just be watching, because if they were to ask
questions or to raise objections, it could be awkward?

MR. PRICE: I think both the President-elect's transition team and this
administration are committed to a very smooth transition, to keeping each
other apprised, and that's exactly what we're doing.

Q You each mentioned a variety of areas of discussion, but what are the
real benchmarks to come out of this weekend? What are you looking for to
declare the summit a success? And also, how many more discussions do you
expect to have on this level, if this the first of a series?

MR. PRICE: Why don't I take a first stab and then you can chime in. This
will be the first time that the G20 has met at leader level. We expect a
very thorough discussion, as I said, of causes, of actions -- near-term
actions to be taken, longer-term actions to be considered -- and
importantly, agreement on fundamental principles for reform.

So I would say we are expecting an important and vigorous discussion with
some quite concrete results. But as I said, this is the first in a series.
There will be further meetings not only to review the decisions that may be
taken at this meeting, but also to follow up and receive recommendations on
areas where further work has been tasked.

Q So those concrete results, should we be expecting some kind of initiative
at the end of that? I mean, what exactly would that be?

MR. PRICE: I think, as Dave explained, there are a number of areas where
important work could be done in the near term. We believe the leaders will
want to come to some agreement on those areas of near-term work, put in
some time frames, and then be in a position to see where we are on
achieving those by the time of the next meeting.

Q Dan, is there any concern that at this initial meeting that if the goals
are not met and there's a possibility of a negative impact on Wall Street
and on the world markets, do you see that happening at all?

MR. PRICE: I wouldn't predict market reactions to anything. But that said,
I think it should be of great comfort to the global community to see
leaders from these countries around a table having a discussion about these
critical issues affecting financial markets, as well as issues affecting
global prosperity, and reaching a common understanding on steps to be taken
and the path forward.

Q On fiscal stimulus, do you expect some sort of statement coming out of
the summit that would be supportive of the need for fiscal stimulus? And if
that is indeed the case, would that indicate that the administration is
actually supportive of what President-elect Obama has called for, which is
immediate fiscal stimulus?

And then, secondly, you didn't mention when you ran down the list the issue
of limits on executive compensation at financial firms, which certainly the
French President has said is an important issue for him.

UNDER SECRETARY McCORMICK: I wouldn't want to pre-judge what would come out
of the statement. I was making the point on the stimulus that just in the
last week or two weeks, we've seen a lot of activity around stimulus.
That's generally been very welcome in places like China, and I think it's
probably a significant portion of how countries are thinking about
near-term response. So it will be an important topic.

So what comes out of it in terms of how we say we talked about it or how we
say the leaders talked about it I think remains to be seen. There will
certainly be a discussion, I expect, because I think it's at the front of
many minds, including Secretary Paulson and I think the President, about
the incentive structures more broadly, that can contribute to excessive
risk-taking, and how to have a discussion and a follow-up on that to ensure
that firms have in place -- whether it's credit-rating agencies or
financial services firms, whatever it might be -- incentive structures that
ultimately guard against excessive risk-taking.

Q So do you think that would be one of the working groups that are set up?

UNDER SECRETARY McCORMICK: I wouldn't want to pre-judge what comes out of
it, but I expect it will be a point of conversation.

Q Sir, for better or for worse, the summit is looked on from the outside
world as an event where the outside world is pushing for reform, really for
meaningful reform, pushing for the U.S. to own up to the crisis, and the
U.S. basically defending the status quo because the status quo favors the
U.S. My question in this regard is, are you anticipating any moves on the
part of the U.S. that would show the world that the U.S. is serious about
this, that the U.S. is willing to compromise, willing to meet its partners
somewhere halfway, something like that?

MR. PRICE: I guess I would say -- and then I'll invite Dave -- the
characterization that you just let out -- that you just outlined is grossly
inaccurate. The skepticism is, frankly, unfounded. The United States has
been at the forefront of a number of reform efforts, which thus far have
not received great political attention. These are measures that have been
undertaken both through the Financial Stability Forum, through the Global
Payments Committee, through various -- through the International
Organization of Securities Regulators -- IOSCO -- that have frankly,
received scant attention, which are now receiving, appropriately, receiving
attention.

So I would say that the United States is committed to a financial markets
reform agenda. I think you can see that domestically through Secretary
Paulson's blueprint. I think you can see it internationally through the
leadership of the United States in a number of international standard
setting bodies, as well as international fora. So we are no less committed
to fixing the problems, and addressing regulatory and other deficiencies
than any other leader.

Q So what about the discussion that your side had with Chinese government?
Tell us about the recent discussion. What are the priority issues that will
be discussed between the two countries at this summit? And how are you
convincing China to keep buying the U.S. Treasury bonds, for example, and
even considering to permit Chinese companies to make further investment
into U.S. companies? Thank you.

UNDER SECRETARY McCORMICK: Well, we've had a number of discussions with
China throughout the last 12 months, and I'd say those have only grown in
frequency in the last three or four months. And I think we've had agreement
from the very beginning that the United States, working its way through
this challenge, and China continuing to grow and be prosperous is very much
in our common interest.

When we talked with the Chinese, universally we hear a commitment to
continuing to take steps that keeps the Chinese economy growing, and
support for the actions that the United States has taken. And so, when you
think about Chinese investment, we don't spend time in China saying, we
think you should do this or that from an investment standpoint. What we do
say is that we think we're taking steps to ensure that our economy
continues to grow and be stable and to give investors confidence that we're
going to maintain our openness.

And in the particular case of GSE debt, for example -- Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac debt -- the measures we've taken to give debt holders
confidence in their investments. So it's been a constructive discussion, I
suspect that will continue, and it has been I think one of the positive
developments over the last year or so.

Q Is bailing out the auto industry protectionism?

MR. PRICE: As I said in response to the question that was earlier posed to
me, what we've heard from a number of the leaders and their representatives
is the importance of underscoring at this particular time a commitment to
further trade and investment liberalization. I think several hours a ago
you had a briefing -- Tony, was it -- from Dana Perino on this. I'm not
here to brief on the auto industry. Thank you.

Q You were talking about fiscal stimulus, what about further coordinating
monetary policy --

UNDER SECRETARY McCORMICK: Well, as you know, the Federal Reserve is
independent. The Federal Reserve has been in contact with central banks
around the world and has at various points made decisions obviously
independent of the Treasury, so I'll leave it at that.

Q Can you say on Doha will there be a substantive discussion on it, or is
it just a commitment to get an agreement by the end of the year?o

And one clarification on the Obama transition team. Will there be a member
physically present in the room?

MR. PRICE: We have had no discussions about the presence of members of the
team in the room. Our discussions to date have been about substance.

With respect to Doha, as I said, I think what we've heard from both leaders
and their representatives is their desire to provide at this meeting
political impetus to resolving the outstanding issues that prevent
agreement on modalities and to direct our ministers to seek to accomplish
that objective.

Yes, ma'am.

Q Thank you. Could you speak to your expectations of Saudi Arabia in this
upcoming meeting? And also, just a logistical question, is it just -- are
there just going to be group sessions and talks, or are there going to be
some break-off sessions where there is going to be some, I guess,
communication between certain countries?

MR. PRICE: There are no -- to my knowledge, there are no separate group
meetings. We have a working dinner Friday night. We have plenary meetings
Saturday morning. And we have a working lunch on Saturday. And all leaders
will be together in all of those events.

UNDER SECRETARY McCORMICK: Also on Saudi Arabia, we've also been in regular
contact over the last six months with them. They're obviously an important
part of the global economy and, as you know, are going to be representing
the GCC countries at the table. And so we welcome their engagement and look
forward to it.

Q It's my understanding as far as the President-elect's representatives,
that those will be made available, but they wouldn't actually be there.
Having said that, is there any concern that their presence just -- even in
the city might be viewed by some foreign leaders as sort of a shadow summit
that could hinder any progress you might make?

MR. PRICE: As I said, we've been working very closely and cooperatively and
well with the transition team.

Yes, sir.

Q To both of you, what do you expect from the Turkish government to do
since you invited Turkey and the Prime Minister Recep Erdogan is in town?

MR. PRICE: We are delighted that Turkey is participating. Turkey is a
member of the G20. And we have invited all leaders of the G20. We expect
the leader -- the Turkish leader, as well as all leaders, to contribute to
discussion -- to the discussion and help us identify not only principles
but particular actions that we might take in implementation of those
principles.

Yes, sir.

Q Will this event solidify the G20 as the preeminent global economic
leadership body? And does it spell the end of the G7 as a relevant
organization?

MR. PRICE: Let me say that I think there was a general view that for this
summit, for this topic, at this time, the leaders of the G20 were an
appropriately representative group to begin this discussion. In my view --
and I think in the view of many -- the gathering of the leaders of the G20
does not foretell one way or the other the future of the G7, the G8, the G8
plus 5, or any other grouping.

Last question.

Q Over here, I just wanted -- the Chinese government question, I don't
think I heard you answer that one, of what you're doing to make sure that
they keep buying Treasury bonds. And secondly, you've also said that this
is the first of many meetings. What sort of time frame do you expect for
the next one?

MR. PRICE: Let me answer that one. I expect that -- I mean, it's for the
leaders to decide, but I would expect that the leaders would express the
view that they would like to get together sometime during the first quarter
of 2009.

And I will give you an opportunity to ask a question, unless you want me to
respond to GSE before we turn to you.

Q There's been reports that there's a difference in regulatory philosophy
between the Europeans and the Americans and the Canadians. Do you see any
difference? And could you just very briefly outline what the American
approach will be towards -- you know, the American philosophical approach
towards future regulation?

MR. PRICE: Well, I invite Dave to answer, as well, but as I tried to say, I
think there is far more common ground among those around the table than
would appear by reading some of the press accounts. Work has been going on
in a number of these areas already. There are additional areas that we need
to focus on. And, well, different leaders have different styles as to how
they characterize the task ahead. When it comes down to the substance of
what needs to be done, I believe that there is enormous common ground.

Q This is the President's last -- I'm sorry, this is the first of many
summits. So this is probably the only one that President Bush will attend.
Can you just characterize how he kind of wants to wrap things up as he goes
out of office, and the condition in which he wants to put things, in terms
of the global economic structure, on his way out the door?

MR. PRICE: Let me try to kind of summarize briefly what some of the, you
know, objectives are.

Yes, this is the first in a series of meetings. I think that it is
important to the President that at this meeting we identify not only common
ground rules, common principles for reform, but identify some of the early
actions that we need to take, as well as reaffirm, importantly, our
commitments to market principles, to trade and investment liberalization,
and to meeting our commitments to the developing world and ensuring that
those most in need are not ignored by the global community.

So I would say it's really four parts. One, let us identify what needs to
be done. Let us begin that task now. Let us continue that task through the
future. And then, finally, let us do so against the backdrop of a
commitment to open trade and investment and to meeting the needs of the
least fortunate.

Thank you very much.

END 3:45 P.M. EST

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