PARIS - PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy and former British prime minister Tony Blair will host a meeting in Paris in January to look at concrete ways to respond to the economic crisis, the French presidency said.
The meeting on January 8 and 9 will be held ahead of a second G20 meeting scheduled for early next year in London to agree on a response to the finance crisis that has since spilled over into the broader economy.
'This is a crucial period for our economies and our social organisations,' Mr Sarkozy said on Wednesday. 'Now more than ever, we need to show that we can propose concrete solutions to the challenges that we are facing.'
The list of guest speakers include Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, US philosopher Francis Fukuyama, Indian economist Amartya Sen and his French colleague Jean-Paul Fitoussi.
Mr Blair said the conference, to be dubbed 'A New World: Values, Development and Regulation", would make a vital contribution to efforts to come to grips with the economic downturn.
The leaders of 20 of the world's biggest or fastest growing economies agreed at a summit in Washington this month to join forces to galvanize growth and overhaul the world's financial architecture.
But they stopped short of announcing specific steps such as coordinated stimulus spending.
The G20 group comprises the G8 plus key emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil, as well as other major economies, including Australia, Indonesia and South Korea.
Junior minister Eric Besson earlier this month said the meeting would discuss ideas for a 'new capitalism' that France hopes will make room for more state regulation and oversight.
The current crisis is a 'challenge but also a terrific opportunity to revisit the fundamental values of capitalism", Mr Besson told AFP. -- AFP
