Sarkozy urges swift, concrete action at G20

By Emmanuel Jarry

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday he hoped the November 15 summit of the G20 leading industrial and developing economies in Washington would yield swift, concrete decisions on global financial regulation.

The aim of the gathering was to come up with "swift, concrete decisions and the definition of a roadmap for the coming weeks," Sarkozy told trade union leaders, according to a statement issued by his office.

Other high-level meetings would follow, Sarkozy said, adding the process should allow for reforms to the way the global financial system was regulated and supervised.

The process should also reinforce the role of the International Monetary Fund in countries weakened by the financial crisis and promote better coordination of economic policy, he said.

World leaders have been busy preparing for the summit, which will tackle the global financial crisis.

But the White House cast some doubt on the chances that concrete decisions on reforms would emerge from the meeting as sought by Sarkozy, saying it was designed to identify problems that sparked the crisis and outline principles for reform.

"We just need to get closer to the meeting to see what we're going to be able to work out," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

She cautioned that the leaders had committed to a series of meetings so major decisions were unlikely to be taken at the first one.

"So I don't think anybody should expect next week that we're going to walk away and have everything solved," she said.

"I think it's appropriate at the first meeting to set up the principles for reform, and then task those working groups to go back, work with their financial experts in their countries, work together to figure out a way that we can continue to move forward," Perino said.

(additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington)

(Writing by Tamora Vidaillet; Editing by Swaha Pattanaik)