October 20, 2008

THE US President, George Bush, has agreed, under pressure from allies, to host a summit of world leaders to work on responses to the global financial crisis, including more rigorous international oversight of markets.

But Mr. Bush, flanked by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, as he announced the meeting, stressed his view that toughened financial regulations respect free and open markets.

"It is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism - a commitment to free markets, free enterprise and free trade," Mr. Bush said before he and his guests met privately at the Camp David retreat in Maryland.

The objectives set for the summit are as far-reaching as those of the 1944 landmark meeting in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, attended by 44 allied nations to remake the global financial system after the Great Depression.

While that gathering was devoted to co-ordinating monetary policy and setting up an international currency exchange system, the summit announced at the weekend would aim to overhaul the regulatory framework for global finance.