French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers meeting over the weekend in Paris to rise above their national interests and agree on measures to combat global economic imbalances, DPA reported.
Addressing the ministers and central bank chiefs of the 20 leading developed and emerging economies, Sarkozy said: "Naturally it is harder to agree during economic upturns. There is a huge temptation to make national interests the priority."
That would be "the death" of the G20, he warned. In recent years, the group has become the main forum for discussing the world economy.
This is the first major G20 meeting since France took over the rotating presidency of the group in November from South Korea, and takes place as the economies of most G20 members continue to strengthen.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and central bank Governor Christian Noyer, who are chairing the meeting, aim to secure agreement among G20 members on a handful of indicators that would be used to measure - and in the future attempt to correct - global imbalances.
The indicators being discussed include current-account balances, real exchange rates, currency reserves and public and private debt levels.
Even before the official talks on Saturday, an agreement already looked elusive.
Speaking at a meeting with his Russian, Brazilian and Indian counterparts, Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren rejected proposals to use real exchange rates and reserves to measure imbalances.
"Emerging markets, to deal with financial crises and economic shocks, need to set up a certain amount of reserves," he said.
Besides the indicators, the finance ministers are discussing spiralling prices for raw materials and foodstuffs.
A spike in the price of basic foodstuffs, such as wheat, threaten a repeat of the food riots of 2008 and are fuelling political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East.
France has called for the market for raw materials to be regulated - a proposal opposed by Brazil and Argentina.
Sarkozy on Friday expressed concern over the volatility of capital flows and called again for the IMF to be given a greater role in supervising global economic policies.
He urged members to implement previously agreed G20 regulations to reduce risky behaviour by banks - a main factor behind the 2008 economic meltdown.
"There will be no back to business as usual," Sarkozy said. "We will no longer accept the resumption of the practices that drove us to the crisis."
On aid to developing countries, Sarkozy tasked Microsoft founder Bill Gates with finding new sources of financing to present to the G20 leaders summit in November in Cannes, France.
The ministers held a working dinner Friday ahead of a full day of closed-door talks Saturday.
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