G7 leaders comments after meeting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Group of Seven financial officials said on Friday that they would work together to do everything necessary to free up credit and money markets, saying the current situation called for urgent and exceptional action.

The group was meeting ahead of an October 11-13 gathering of finance ministers and central bankers from around the globe at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Following are highlights of comments by the G7 leaders.

EUROGROUP CHAIRMAN JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER on Eurogroup meeting

"We welcome the initiative of President Sarkozy to convene

a meeting of heads of government of Eurogroup on Sunday night."

ECB PRESIDENT JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET on the rate cuts:

"The global decision of central banks to decrease rates because we had inflation expectations under control and the most recent events had confirmed the risks to price stability had decreased."

ECB PRESIDENT JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET on actions taken so far:

"We have taken a lot of actions in the past week. We are continuing to take action in the past week and we have taken action just a few days ago...a lot of action has been also taken. We have to say it is an ongoing part of decisions."

FRENCH ECONOMY MINISTER CHRISTINE LAGARDE on G7 statement:

"This G7 meeting took place in exceptional circumstances and you have in front of you a statement that is itself exceptional. You're used to having long, dense, three-page statements that resemble each other from one G7 to the next. Here you have a one-page document with five main points"

"What are the messages of this statement. First of all that we are all aware of the seriousness of the situation."

"We wanted to send a very clear message to the markets, to tell them to stay calm and reject irrational behavior"

"The second message is that we are ready to act"

ECB GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER CHRISTIAN NOYER on rate cuts: