Bush confident global leaders can overcome crisis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Friday he was confident world leaders gathering for a summit would eventually resolve the global financial crisis and return their economies to a path of growth.

"By working together, I'm confident that with time we can overcome this crisis and return our economies to the path of growth and vitality," Bush said in his weekly radio address, to air Saturday. The White House released it on Friday ahead of the G20 summit.

Leaders from G20 countries will attend a dinner at the White House on Friday evening and hold meetings on Saturday to discuss the financial crisis.

Bush said he would work with leaders to establish principles of reform, such as greater market transparency and ensuring proper regulation of markets, firms and financial products.

"This is a decisive moment for the global economy," he said.

Bush argued against reinventing the system, and said the solution was to "fix the problems we face" and adhere to free market principles.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that the administration has been supportive of an early warning system and a college of supervisors for oversight of the world's biggest financial institutions.

"These are things that we have been supportive of in the past," she told reporters.

Bush said the U.S. economy will recover from the current turmoil. "In the long run, Americans can be confident in the future of our economy," he said.

The "bold measures" taken by countries around the world in response to the financial crisis are having an impact as credit markets start to thaw and businesses gain access to short-term financing, Bush said.

"It will require more time for these improvements to fully take hold and there will be more difficult days ahead, but the United States and our partners are taking the right steps to get through the crisis," he said.

(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and David Alexander; Editing by Dan Grebler)