Obama: Advanced Economies Lay Plans for Economic Growth

04 November 2011

President Obama holds a press conference at the conclusion of the G20 summit held November 3–4 in Cannes, France.

President Obama says the Group of 20 nations have worked together and made progress toward strengthening the global economy, averting another recession and putting the world on the path to recovery.

“As a result, advanced economies, including the United States, are growing and creating jobs, but not nearly fast enough,” the president said.

At a press conference November 4, Obama said the G20 nations agreed to stay focused on jobs and economic growth through an extensive plan that calls for greater coordination on individual national actions and policies. The G20 leaders also made progress toward rebalancing the global economy in an effort to lessen sharp swings in the economic cycle that can lead to recessions, he added.

The G20 countries held their annual leaders’ summit in the French resort town of Cannes November 3–4. The next summit will be held in Mexico’s Los Cabos, Baja California, in June 2012.

Obama said Europe remains on track to implement a sustainable path for Greece, which is facing a debt crisis. He added that Italy asked the International Monetary Fund, which worked with the European Union on the crisis in Greece, to provide a quarterly monitoring program as Italy implements “fully and swiftly” a comprehensive plan of growth-enhancing reforms.

“All of us have an enormous interest in Europe’s success, and all of us will be affected if Europe is not growing — and that certainly includes the United States, which counts Europe as our largest trading partner,” Obama told reporters. “And that’s why I’ve made it clear that the United States will continue to do our part to support our European partners as they work to resolve this crisis.”

“But our European partners have laid a foundation on which to build, and it has all the elements needed for success: a credible firewall to prevent the crisis from spreading, strengthening European banks, charting a sustainable path for Greece, and confronting the structural issues that are at the heart of the current crisis,” Obama said.

The White House said the United States is committed to the timely implementation of a package of measures to sustain its own economic recovery through public investments, tax reforms and targeted employment measures.

The G20 nations also adopted a set of high-level financial reforms to prevent a crisis in the future, Obama said. The leaders also agreed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, in an effort to fight climate change and to create clean-energy economies.

While in Cannes, Obama met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel individually to discuss the European debt crisis.

Obama told reporters that it was the most important aspect of the summit over the two days of meetings among the 20 world leaders.

“We also discussed the situation in Greece and how we can work to help resolve that situation as well. And the United States will continue to be a partner with the Europeans to resolve these challenges,” he said.