CHICAGO - PRESIDENT-elect Barack Obama will dispatch former Republican Representative Jim Leach and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, to represent him among world leaders attending the global economic summit in Washington this weekend.

Mr Obama is not attending the gathering of delegations from 20 nations and won't meet with foreign dignitaries who do. He is deferring to President George W. Bush and avoiding putting himself in a situation where he might be seen as trying to represent the United States before his Jan 20 inauguration.

The incoming president also has been busy planning his transition to the White House. On Wednesday, Mr Obama announced a team heavy on experience in the Clinton administration to help guide transition efforts in the State, Defence and Treasury departments.

At the G-20 meetings this weekend, Mr Leach, a Republican who endorsed Mr Obama during the campaign, and Ms Albright will mainly be listeners on the periphery of the meetings.

Ms Albright was secretary of state during the administration of former President Bill Clinton. Mr Leach spent 30 years in Congress before being defeated by a Democrat in 2006.

Mr Bush called the summit before the election, and it is expected to draw representatives from the world's 20 largest industrialised nations and emerging economies.

The aim of the Saturday summit is for world powers to craft remedies to the global financial crisis.

'We have one president at a time, and it's important that the president can speak for the United States at the summit,' Mr John Podesta, Mr Obama's transition chief, told reporters on Tuesday.

Mr Obama has been in touch with many foreign leaders since he was elected last week. The global financial crisis was among the topics he discussed with key US allies, aides said.

Meanwhile, Mr Obama continued to work on assembling his transition team.

In a statement, Mr Obama revealed the agency review team leaders who will be responsible for reviewing budgets, personnel and policy in the State, Defence and Treasury departments so the new administration can begin working as soon as Mr Obama is sworn in January.

He named two leaders for each of the three agencies, and all six worked in some capacity under fellow Democrat Clinton during his presidency in the 1990s.

The Treasury team leads are Mr Josh Gotbaum, an investment fund adviser who has experience in multiple federal agencies, and Mr Michael Warren, chief operating officer of advisory firm Stonebridge International who was executive director of the President's National Economic Council.

At State, the leads are Mr Tom Donilon, a lawyer who was an assistant secretary of state, and Ms Wendy Sherman, a principal of The Albright Group advisory firm and a former top State Department official.

The Defence team is being led by Mr John P. White, chair of the Kennedy School Middle East Initiative at Harvard and a former deputy defence secretary, and Mr Michele Flournoy, president of the Centre for a New American Security who worked in the Pentagon under Mr Clinton.

The list comes out a day after Mr Obama announced an ethics policy that all transition officials must sign, agreeing to avoid work for him related to any of their lobbying activities for one year. Mr Obama had railed against the influence of lobbyists over Washington in his campaign, but the policy allows lobbyists to work for him with restrictions that haven't existed in previous administrations.

An Associated Press check of public records found some former lobbyists among Mr Obama's team leaders, along with some top fundraisers to his presidential campaign.

Also as part of the trasition, Vice-President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday will meet with Vice-President Dick Cheney to discuss the upcoming handoff of the job. Mr Cheney and Mr Biden will have a private meeting and then tour the vice-presidential residence at the Naval Observatory. -- AP