CANADA (voa) – Top finance officials of the Group of Seven industrial nations say prospects are good for a global recovery but that risks remain.
The officials say they will remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to promote a strong and sustained recovery. The world economy has been struggling since the U.S. economy considered as the engine of world growth slipped into recession last March.
The final statement of the just-concluded G-7 meeting in Canada also says more than $100 million in terrorism-related assets have been frozen in nearly 150 countries since the September 11th terror attacks.
It also urges Argentina’s government to work closely with the International Monetary Fund to secure a new loan and revive Latin America’s third biggest economy. It says Argentina is taking steps in the right direction but that more needs to be done.
At the two-day meeting in a Canadian retreat near the capital Ottawa, finance ministers and central bank governors from the G-7 were joined by ministers from Russia and Spain, which holds the rotating European Union presidency. The seven richest industrial countries are Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
The heads of the International Monetary Fund, Horst Koehler, and of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, also participated.
Scores of police, some on snowmobiles, patrolled outside. About 60 anti-globalization activists staged a brief, peaceful protest Saturday morning. Several protesters walked out onto a frozen lake next to the meeting venue in Meech Lake and trampled an anti-G-7 meeting message into the snow, before being dispersed. No violence was reported.
