Economic recovery and the road to Pittsburgh
This week, I've been back in London for a meeting of the Foreign Office's senior leadership. Whilst there I took the chance to see Baroness Shriti Vadera, Minister for Competitiveness and Enterprise, Jon Cunliffe, the Prime Minister's Adviser for International Economics, who also serves as the G20 Sherpa, and sat in on a meeting between Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Chancellor Alistair Darling and US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who has been visiting Europe.
Unsurprisingly, the global economic recession was the number one item for discussion. Even though the immediate threat to the international financial system seems to have receded, the recession is taking its toll around the world. Crucially, the unemployment rate in most countries continues to rise, exacting a real human cost on millions of households.
We're now almost exactly halfway between the G20 Summit that took place in London in April, and the upcoming meeting scheduled for September in Pittsburgh.
We have made some significant progress on the commitments leaders made in London. Here in the US, the Administration won approval from Congress for a big uplift in the IMF's resources. And proposals for reforming financial regulation have moved forward in the UK, the US and in Europe. You can read the proposals published by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, last week here.
But as well as taking stock of progress since London, leaders in Pittsburgh will want to focus on the future. I think a large part of their discussion will look at what kind of an economic recovery we want to see. After this recession has passed, we want to promote growth that is sustainable and balanced, not prone to speculative bubbles and overly reliant on particular sectors or countries. We need to make sure that recovery takes place in the context of the Copenhagen Climate Conference this December, where countries will seek a global agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Developing that agenda with our US counterparts will be a top priority for the Foreign Office and the embassy over the next couple of months.
Posted at 03:15 17 July 2009 by Nigel Sheinwald | Comments[1]
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