G8 summit to test resolve on economy, climate change, food security
- Source: Xinhua
- [18:16 July 07 2009]
- Comments
The upcoming Group of Eight (G8) summit will be a major test to world leaders on their resolve to shore up economy and fight world hunger and climate change following last year's global financial meltdown.
STRENGTHENING FINANCIAL REGULATION
Efforts to strengthen financial regulation to prevent a recurrence of the current financial crisis are expected to top the agenda of the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy from Wednesday to Friday.
The seven major industrialized countries of the G8, which groups the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada, have suffered serious economic downturns after a credit crunch in the United States, which quickly dragged the world into its worst recession since the early 1930s.
The root cause of the crisis is free-market capitalism, a model under which speculators could make huge profits from short-term trading and over-financing, while shift risks on to ordinary consumers, analysts noted.
The best cure for the crisis is to set up a fair, transparent and integrated system of global financial regulation. To this end, analysts said, countries worldwide must join hands to formulate as soon as possible widely accepted standards and norms of international financial regulation.
In early April, world leaders reached framework agreements at the G20 London Summit on global financial institution reform and strengthening financial regulation and supervision.
On June 17, the US administration unveiled broad reforms packages to tighten financial regulation in the country to prevent another banking and market crisis. On June 19, the European Union also agreed on the need for pan-European supervision of the banking sector.
However, the efforts are far from enough.
One year after the financial crisis broke out, analysts said, the world's efforts have not achieved any concrete results on its financial regulation agenda. The gambling-addict financiers and speculators have so far not got the punishment they deserve. It is highly possible that taxpayers have to pay the bills for gamblers like these some time in the future.