G20 Conference Concludes With Lack of Consensus

To save the world’s economy from the current financial crisis, the leaders of 20 countries attended the G20 Summit in Washington D.C. this weekend. After two days of meeting the nations have reached a consensus on strengthening financial regulations.

There were, however, split ideologies for free markets among the leaders. Moreover, the U.S. is undergoing a transition of administrations, and is thus unable to make effective policy suggestions, which made the meeting conversational and superficial. Political specialists believe that the solutions for the financial crisis produced from the summit will be rather limited.

After the end of G20 conference, 20 national leaders stood around for a group picture. However, did the summit produce a more realistic outcome? U.S. President Bush said, “Our nations agree that we must make the financial market more transparent and accountable.” While President Bush spoke on the stage, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson appeared confused.

Because each of the 20 national leaders went to the summit with his or her own agenda, establishing an international regulatory institution seems to be the only consensus. The U.K. Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said, “The system of 1945 is inadequate to solve the problems we are facing in 2008.”

This will be the last economic summit hosted by President Bush during his presidency. As the leader of the hosting country, President Bush greeted the national leaders differently: a simple handshake with leaders of Japan, South Korea, France, and Russia, and a warm greeting and strong handshake with the King of Saudi Arabia, a major oil-producing country.

President-elect Obama used this opportunity for a shout-out at President Bush, “I am very glad to see that President Bush is hosting the summit. Please don’t get me wrong. This is a great opportunity for this economic challenge.”

While the leaders wrestled with opinions at the summit meetings, anti-capitalism activists protested with propaganda, slogans, and cartoon frames, which over-flooded the streets of Washington D.C.

Political critics believe that the reason that the summit is unable to produce a solution is that the U.S. was represented by a leader that is a predecessor-to-be. It seems that there will not be a solution for the financial meltdown until the second summit in March of 2009.