Finance Minister Jin Renqing on Friday expressed his hope that
Germany, which presides the G-8 meetings in 2007, will push forward
cooperation between the industrialized nations and developing
countries including China.
Jin and German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck met over
Sino-German relations, global trade and financial markets on the
sidelines of the finance ministers and bank chiefs meeting of G-7
nations in the industrial city of Essen.
Both Jin and Steinbrueck stressed the need of strengthening
cooperation between China and Germany, the two globally influential
economies, in macro-economic policy, international economic issues
and financial and monetary policies, according to the Chinese
delegation.
Both sides agreed that such cooperation is not only conducive to
the Sino-German partnership with global responsibility, but also
helpful to the development of the comprehensive strategic
partnership between China and the European Union.
Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of
Seven industrialized nations opened their meeting on Friday night
to focus on the development of capital markets in emerging market
economies and other world economic issues.
The two-day meeting, presided over by Steinbrueck, will focus on
central issues of fiscal policy, including consolidating
macroeconomic stability, the role of hedge funds in the stability
of international financial markets.
Another important topic is the Doha Round of trade talks, which
began in 2001 and was in an impasse due to disputes on farm
subsidies.
Jin attended the meeting as a guest. Russia, despite its
membership in the Group of Eight, remains to be a guest at the
meeting because G-7 members believe Russia's economic and financial
system does not fix in theirs.
The ministers from G-7, which comprises the US, Britain, Canada,
France, Germany, Italy and Japan, met with their counterparts from
the five developing nations -- China, Mexico, South Africa, India
and Brazil.
The finance chiefs discussed setting up bond markets in the
developing economies using their domestic currencies to try to
avoid financial crisis.
They also talked about the promotion of growth and the fight
against poverty by effecting improvements in the public finance
sector of developing countries, and fiscal policy for the promotion
of energy efficiency and of an energy strategy increasingly reliant
on renewable energies.
Steinbrueck, whose country holds the presidency of G-8, said
earlier in a television interview on Friday that there should be a
registration of all the highly speculative funds that operate with
foreign capital.
He urged hedge funds managers to show greater awareness of the
political consequences of their dealings. "The result is a serious
financial crisis. This cannot be ruled out," he said.
The meeting in Essen is one of several meetings that will lead
to the G-8 summit in the German Baltic Sea resort of
Heiligendamm.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)
