The first global financial summit will be held in the US on 15 November, a White House official has said. President Bush will host the meeting to discuss the global financial crisis and ways to prevent it recurring. Leaders from the G20 group of nations - the world's leading industrialised countries and major developing nations - will attend.
Whoever wins the US presidential election, which will take place 11 days before the summit, will also attend. The meeting, to be held in the Washington DC area, will consider the reforms needed to avoid another financial crisis and look at the progress currently being made.
"The leaders will review progress being made to address the current financial crisis," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. In order to avoid a repetition of the crisis, she said they would "agree on a common set of principles for reform of the regulatory and institutional regimes for the world's financial sectors".
Worldwide crisis
Later summits will focus on working out the details of the reforms needed. Some European leaders had pushed for a summit before the end of the year, and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy had said it should take place in New York.
Among those expected to attend the summit will be leaders from the G20 group of nations, which includes the G7 group of major industrial economies and key emerging-market countries such as China, India and Brazil. The head of the International Monetary Fund, the president of the World Bank, the United Nations secretary-general, and chairman of the Financial Stability Forum have also been invited to participate.
