[…] The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank ended in Istanbul amid calls for reform and reflection on the global economic crisis. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told financial and monetary policymakers from the 186 members of the fund that global cooperation worked in stabilizing current conditions, and that continued cooperation can create the conditions necessary for a cycle of peace and prosperity.

[…] “This is an issue that affects all of us, because food security is about economic, environmental and national security for our individual homelands and the world,” Clinton said September 26 at a food security conference co-hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Representatives from 130 countries, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations attended the brief conference to address the underlying causes of global hunger.

[…] The G20 nations also agreed to make the G20 the premier forum for international economic cooperation, supplanting the older Group of Eight major economies — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. And the leaders pledged to conclude the long-running world trade talks designed to liberalize the global trading system, which have come to be called the Doha round.

[…] Good afternoon. Let me, first of all, thank Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, County Executive Dan Onorato, and the people of Pittsburgh for being just extraordinary hosts. Last night during the dinner that I had with world leaders, so many of them commented on the fact that sometime in the past they had been to Pittsburgh -- in some cases it was 20 or 25 or 30 years ago -- and coming back they were so impressed with the revitalization of the city.

[…] Thank you so very much, and it is once again a great, great delight, a personal privilege, to be here at CGI and to see how this innovative approach toward changing the future, by investing in people, and using the talents of so many to make the cases for those whose voices will not be heard here, has made such a difference. What I have found in the last five years with the extraordinary development of CGI is the hunger for people to be part of partnerships and networks that will make a difference.

[…] Finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s largest economies have agreed that until there is a sustained economic recovery led by the private sector, multitrillion-dollar stimulus measures taken earlier this year will remain. “The financial system is showing signs of repair.

[…] Statement by Secretary Geithner at the G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Good afternoon. My thanks and compliments to Chancellor Darling and his team for hosting this meeting. The United States looks forward to welcoming the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to Pittsburgh, along with the Leaders and Finance Ministers of the G-20, in just a few weeks.

[…] The Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors are meeting September 4–5 in London in preparation for the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, September 24–25. The G20, which was formed in 1999, includes 19 of the world’s largest national economies and the European Union. The Pittsburgh Summit is a follow-up to a similar meeting held in London last April and an earlier summit held in Washington in November 2008.

[…] “Our priorities are clear. We are deploying the tools of diplomacy and development along with military power. We are securing historic alliances, working with emerging regional powers, and seeking new avenues of engagement.
We are addressing the existing and emerging challenges that will define our century: climate change, weak states, rogue regimes, criminal cartels, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, poverty, and disease.

[…] While domestic unemployment is likely to increase in the coming months, there are indications that the pace of the U.S. economic crisis may be slowing, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says. “Consumer spending, which dropped sharply in the second half of last year, grew in the first quarter,” Bernanke said in congressional testimony May 5. “In coming months, households’ spending power will be boosted by the fiscal stimulus program.

[…] President Obama says the G20 Summit is a turning point in the pursuit of global economic recovery. “The London Summit was historic. It was historic because of the size and scope of the challenges we face and because of the timeliness and magnitude of our response,” Obama said at an April 2 press conference following the daylong summit in London’s Docklands section along the Thames River.

[…] President Obama intends to request $448 million from Congress in emergency funding to help targeted developing countries respond to the current and anticipated effects of the crisis on extremely poor and vulnerable populations. This targeted assistance will complement the actions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and other donors to stabilize macroeconomic conditions and restore the health of the international financial sector.

[…] Today, the President called upon Congress to double U.S. financial support for agricultural development in developing countries, to more than $1 billion in 2010. A permanent solution to food insecurity requires restoration of rapid and sustained economic growth that directly engages the world’s poorest populations, many of whom depend on agricultural labor for most or all of their household income and food consumption.

[…] Leaders of the world’s most powerful economies have pledged $1.1 trillion to restore credit, economic growth and jobs in the world economy. “Together with the measures we have each taken nationally, this constitutes a global plan for recovery on an unprecedented scale,” the leaders said in a communiqué issued April 2 at the conclusion of the G20 London Summit. The gathering of leaders was held in the Docklands, a former shipping area on the Thames River that has undergone major redevelopment.

[…] I know some of you are deep experts in the G20 and I imagine some of you are just getting into the issues for the first time, so why don’t I give some context. And then we can go as far or as deep as you like. It’s no surprise to anybody that we’re gathering the G20 at a time of the most severe economic and financial crisis in generations. These 20-plus countries represent about 85 percent of the global economy and they come together at a time when incomes are falling, unemployment is on the rise, trade has collapsed and financial markets are strained in all of their countries.

[…] Obama’s first visit to Europe as president will cover eight days, with visits to five nations. He travels to London for the G20 summit of advanced and emerging market economies April 1–2, then he travels to the 60th anniversary NATO Summit hosted by Strasbourg, France, and Kehl, Germany, April 3–4 and the European Union summit April 5 in Prague, Czech Republic, before wrapping up his travel in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, April 6.

[…] Calling the current U.S. regulatory structure “unnecessarily complex and fragmented,” Geithner said that it has “sometimes resulted in a failure to assign clear responsibility for achievement of some public policy objectives, notably for financial stability.” Geithner said hedge funds, insurance companies and government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be subject to increased scrutiny, along with the banking sector, by a new regulatory agency.