President Sarkozy lays out G-20 aims
Baku, January 25 (AZERTAC). President Nicolas Sarkozy of France spelled out his plans for reforming the international monetary system and curbing volatility in food and fuel prices on Monday in a keynote speech on France`s year-long G20 presidency.
The address, billed as the official launch of his ambitious agenda, presented the findings of whirlwind consultations with G20 leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and China`s Hu Jintao on the three key areas of France`s presidency.
A spike in world food prices to record highs in December has pushed commodities up the G20 agenda. But Sarkozy has garnered scant foreign support for plans to wean the world economy off its reliance on the U.S. dollar and establish a “new Bretton Woods” system. Sarkozy delivered a speech that outlined France`s priorities for the year.
Speaking to 300 diplomats and journalists in the Elysee presidential palace, Sarkozy also voiced support for a tax on financial transactions, calling such a move a “moral question” but admitting the idea had many enemies.
“How can you explain that we regulate money markets and not commodities?,” said Sarkozy, who holds the rotating presidency of the Group of 20, a policy forum for the world`s leading rich and developing economies, for 2011.
Sarkozy has a three-pronged agenda for France`s G20 presidency, including tackling volatility in commodity prices, exploring changes to the world monetary system and reforming global economic governance.
He has been meeting with fellow G20 leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama and China`s Hu Jintao, in recent weeks to win support for his plans and assess what France can realistically achieve.
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