G-20 ministers to talk about climate change, recovery

Ministers plus central bankers from the 20 richest and fastest-emerging economies will hold their third get-together of 2009 over two days in St. Andrews, a seaside town known as the home of golf.

Now that countries like the U.S., Japan, Germany and France have emerged from recession after last year's global financial crisis, the G-20's focus has switched from disaster management to building a secure economic future.

But this time, the grouping will also have to turn its attention to climate finance ahead of December's key U.N. conference in Copenhagen which aims to seal a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, although hopes of an accord are fading.

Rodrigo Delgado Aguilera, a researcher at foreign affairs think tank Chatham House, said the St. Andrews meeting was likely to produce only “incremental” changes, rather than major developments.

“This crisis is evidence enough that we don't really understand how the world works. Maybe for now these smaller steps are better but it shouldn't be an excuse not to think big,” he told AFP.

In a bid to ensure there is no repeat of last year's near-meltdown that saw the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, world leaders at September's Pittsburgh G-20 summit agreed a new system to coordinate economic decision-making and encourage stable, long-term growth.

A key priority this weekend will be working out details of how this mutual assessment system will function, G-20 officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Exit strategies from emergency measures put in place to fight the global slump will also be discussed.

But it is thought ministers are likely to echo the need to keep them in place until “a durable recovery is secured,” as leaders said at Pittsburgh.

Speaking before the meeting, a senior U.S. Treasury official stressed the U.S. had only seen one quarter of growth — announced last week — and that the economy was still in a fragile state.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted Europe was in harmony on the issue following an EU summit last week.

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