China finance talks target energy prices
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-16 10:29

The talks, which include the Group of Seven industrial nations, leading developing countries and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, addressed a wide range of issues, including concerns over the prolonged surge in crude oil prices, which are hovering above US$60 a barrel.

Beijing expects the G-20 gathering, whose participants account for 90 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 80 percent of all trade, to issue statements on reforming the international monetary system and on development issues, state media reported.

Securing a stable supply of oil is a major concern for China, whose imports have surged as its economy grows at an annual rate of more than 9 percent.

Delegates to Saturday's talks raised "many good proposals" for financing an IMF program to aid economies badly hit by high oil prices, IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato told reporters.

Rato said high oil prices were bound to persist, posing a threat to stable world growth.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on Saturday urged wealthy nations to make concessions on farm trade to help salvage stalled World Trade Organization negotiations for the sake of the world's poorest 1.2 billion people.

"The solution has to come from opening markets," he said. "These people need aid but more than aid they need a place to sell the products of their work. Otherwise they'll be aid dependent forever and that's not a solution."