FACTBOX-What the G7 said about FX in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven rich nations on Friday urged China to let its yuan currency appreciate more quickly but opted not to single out the dollar, euro or yen in its post-meeting communique.

The language echoed but advanced earlier G7 calls for China to let the tightly controlled yuan float more freely.

Before the meeting, some European countries wanted the G7 to focus on dollar weakness, as policy-makers fear its slide against the euro will hurt exports and the euro zone economy.

The euro this week surged to an all-time peak against the dollar above $1.43, the latest in a string of record-setting moves. It has gained about 8 percent so far this year.

But unlike the dollar, the euro has also gained against China's yuan, a move that has swelled the euro zone trade deficit with China and put pressure on European exporters.

China dropped its dollar peg in July 2005, adopting instead a peg to a basket of currencies, but the basket remains heavily dollar-weighted.

Below is a compendium of what was said, followed by details from the April G7 meeting in Washington:

G7 COMMUNIQUE ON CURRENCIES, OCT. 19, 2007:

"We reaffirm that exchange rates should reflect economic fundamentals. Excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates are undesirable for economic growth. We continue to monitor exchange rate markets closely, and cooperate as appropriate. We welcome China's decision to increase the flexibility of its currency, but in view of its rising current account surplus and domestic inflation, we stress its need to allow an accelerated appreciation of its effective exchange rate."

U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY HENRY PAULSON:

On U.S. strong dollar policy

"I was very clear -- and it didn't surprise anyone because I've always been clear on this with my colleagues -- that I believe a strong dollar is in our nation's interest and believe that currency values should be determined based upon underlying economic fundamentals in a competitive marketplace"

On China's comments about the need for structural reform

"We welcome the fact that they think flexibility is a good thing and we just are encouraging them to move a bit quicker and it sounds like they agree."

FRENCH ECONOMY MINISTER CHRISTINE LAGARDE:

On the communique's mention of the yuan