Bush to host first in series of summits on financial crisis

US: US President George Bush and European leaders, who have been tussling over whether to revamp the regulatory framework for global finance, agreed on Saturday night to take steps toward a series of international meetings to address the economic crisis, the White House said.

After a private dinner at Camp David, Bush, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso

issued a joint statement saying they agreed to "reach out to other world leaders" to propose an international summit meeting to be held soon after the United States presidential election, with the possibility of more gatherings after that.

The statement was delicately worded. In it, the leaders said the goal of the first meeting would be to "review progress being made to address the current crisis and to seek agreement on principles of reform needed to avoid a repetition and assure global prosperity in the future."

With the American economy in its deepest crisis since the Great Depression, Bush has been under intense pressure from European leaders to take steps to tighten oversight and better coordinate financial market regulation around the world.

But any discussion of international oversight of financial markets is delicate and, in the White House's view, problematic.

American officials do not want other nations to control this country's banking system.

Just hours before the joint statement, Bush, in an appearance with Sarkozy and Barroso at Camp David, warned that any effort to overhaul the international financial system must "preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism - a commitment to free markets, free enterprise and free trade."

The Europeans had been pressing for a meeting of the Group of 8 industrialised nations, but Bush went one step further, calling for a broader global conference that would include "developed and developing nations" - among them China and India, a senior White House official said. The White House will seek the president-elect's input, said the official, who was not authorised to discuss the plans publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bush, with Sarkozy and. Barroso at his side, said, "Given that the world has never been more interconnected, it is essential that we work together because we're in this crisis together." He added, "For this meeting to be a success, we must welcome good ideas from around the world."

Barroso said : "Together, we should show the way towards an international response," adding, "We need a new global financial order."

Sarkozy said: "This may be a great opportunity if we do not fall back into the hateful practices of the past, practices that have led us exactly where we are right now." He added, "We cannot continue along the same lines, because the same problems will trigger the same disasters."

Bush's offer to hold a summit meeting in the United States appeared to be an effort by the administration to wrest control of the proceedings from Sarkozy.