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  April 2, 2009

  NEWS CONFERENCE

  BY PRESIDENT OBAMA


ExCel Center
London, United Kingdom

6:44 P.M. (Local)

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Earlier today, we finished a very productive summit that will be, I believe, a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery.

By any measure, the London summit was historic.  It was historic because of the size and the scope of the challenges that we face, and because of the timeliness and magnitude of our response.

The challenge is clear.  The global economy is contracting. Trade is shrinking.  Unemployment is rising.  The international finance system is nearly frozen.  Even these facts can't fully capture the crisis that we're confronting, because behind them is the pain and uncertainty that so many people are facing.  We see it back in the United States.  We see it here in London.  We see it around the world:  families losing their homes, workers losing their jobs and their savings, students who are deferring their dreams.  So many have lost so much.  Just to underscore this point, back in the United States, jobless claims released today were the highest in 26 years.  We owe it to all of our citizens to act, and to act with a sense of urgency.

In an age where our economies are linked more closely than ever before, the whole world has been touched by this devastating downturn.  And today, the world's leaders have responded with an unprecedented set of comprehensive and coordinated actions.

Now, just keep in mind some historical context.  Faced with similar global challenges in the past, the world was slow to act, and people paid an enormous price.  That was true in the Great Depression, when nations prolonged and worsened the crisis by turning inward, waiting for more than a decade to meet the challenge together.  Even as recently as the 1980s, the slow global response deepened and widened a debt crisis in Latin America that pushed millions into poverty.

Today, we've learned the lessons of history.  I know that in the days leading up to the summit, some of you in the press, some commentators, confused honest and open debate with irreconcilable differences.  But after weeks of preparation, and two days of careful negotiation, we have agreed on a series of unprecedented steps to restore growth and prevent a crisis like this from happening again.

Let me outline what I think has been most significant.

Number one, we are committed to growth and job creation.  All G20 nations have acted to stimulate demand, which will total well over $2 trillion in global fiscal expansion.  The United States is also partnering with the private sector to clean out the troubled assets, the legacy assets that are crippling some banks, and using the full force of the government to ensure that our action leads directly to loans to businesses large and small, as well as individuals who depend on credit.  And these efforts will be amplified by our G20 partners, who are pursuing similarly comprehensive programs.

And we also agreed on bold action to support developing countries, so that we aren't faced with declining markets that the global economy depends on.  Together, the G20 is tripling the IMF's lending capacity and promoting lending by multilateral development banks to increase the purchasing power and expand markets in every country.

We've also rejected the protectionism that could deepen this crisis.  History tells us that turning inward can help turn a downturn into a depression.  And this cooperation between the world's leading economies signals our support for open markets, as does our multilateral commitment to trade finance that will grow our exports and create new jobs.

That's all on the growth front.

And next we made enormous strides in committing ourselves to comprehensive reform of a failed regulatory system.  And together, I believe that we must put an end to the bubble-and-bust economy that has stood in the way of sustained growth and enabled abusive risk-taking that endangers our prosperity.

At home, back in the States, our efforts began with the approach that Secretary Geithner proposed last week, the strongest regulatory reforms any nation has contemplated so far to prevent the massive failure of responsibility that we have already seen.  Today, these principles have informed and enabled the coordinated action that we will take with our G20 partners.

To prevent future crises, we agreed to increased transparency and capital protections for financial institutions. We're extending supervision to all systemically important institutions, markets and products, including hedge funds.  We'll identify jurisdictions that fail to cooperate, including tax havens, and take action to defend our financial system.  We will reestablish the Financial Stability Forum with a stronger mandate.  And we will reform and expand the IMF and World Bank so they are more efficient, effective and representative.

Finally, we are protecting those who don't always have a voice at the G20, but who have suffered greatly in this crisis.  And the United States is ready to lead in this endeavor.  In the coming days, I intend to work with Congress to provide $448 million in immediate assistance to vulnerable populations -- from Africa to Latin America -- and to double support for food safety to over $1 billion so that we are giving people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty.  We will also support the United Nations and World Bank as they coordinate the rapid assistance necessary to prevent humanitarian catastrophe.

I have to say, though, that this is not just charity.  These are all future markets for all countries, and future drivers of world economic growth.

Let me also underscore my appreciation to Prime Minister Brown, his entire team, and all my colleagues from around the world who contributed to the summit's success.  You know, it's hard for 20 heads of state to bridge their differences.  We've all got our own national policies; we all have our own assumptions, our own political cultures.  But our citizens are all hurting.  They all need us to come together.  So I'm pleased that the G20 has agreed to meet again this fall, because I believe that this is just the beginning.  Our problems are not going to be solved in one meeting; they're not going to be solved in two meetings.  We're going to have to be proactive in shaping events and persistent in monitoring our progress to determine whether further action is needed.

I also want to just make a few remarks about additional meetings I had outside of the G20 context.  While here in London I had the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with leaders of Russia, China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and India, as well as Great Britain.  And these discussions were extraordinarily valuable and productive.  Of course, we spoke about additional steps to promote economic recovery and growth.  But we also discussed coordinated actions on a range of issues:  how we could reduce the nuclear threat; how we could forge a coordinated response to North Korea's planned missile launch; how we can turn back terrorism and stabilize Afghanistan; how we can protect our planet from the scourge of climate change.  I'm encouraged that we laid the groundwork for real and lasting progress on a host of these issues.

Ultimately, the challenges of the 21st century can't be met without collective action.  Agreement will almost never be easy, and results won't always come quickly.  But I am committed to respecting different points of view, and to forging a consensus instead of dictating our terms.  That's how we made progress in the last few days.  And that's how we will advance and uphold our ideals in the months and years to come.

You know, at home, I've often spoken about a new era of responsibility.  And I believe strongly that this era must not end at our borders.  In a world that's more and more interconnected, we all have responsibilities to work together to solve common challenges.  And although it will take time, I am confident that we will rebuild global prosperity if we act with a common sense of purpose, persistence, and the optimism that the moment demands.

So I appreciate your attention, and I'm going to take a few questions.  I've got a list of a few people I'm going to call on and then I will intersperse some folks I'm calling on randomly.