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 Leaders of the world's top economies this afternoon agreed at the G-20 sumnmit this afternoon to tighten regulations on the banking industry to strengthen the global economy.
President Obama held a news conference this afternoon to announce the agreement.
The news conference capped a day in which countries held press briefings about the economy and other world issues at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Highlights so far include an announcement of future summits, Canada agreeing to a significant loan to the Bank of Africa and Michelle Obama attending a performance at the city's high school for the performing arts.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, welcomed the actions of the group of 20 nations to sustain global recovery.
He called their commitments to act together to generate strong, sustainable and balanced growth and to modernize global economic governance "historic decisions to adapt global economic cooperation to the needs to the 21st century. The commitment by the leaders of the G-20 to a shift in representation is a ground-breaking step to improve the IMF's legitimacy and effectiveness."
He said he was very encouraged by the outcome of the summit, including the new role assigned to the IMF.
"International cooperation has been key to the response in this crisis. The active engagement of leaders is needed to sustain the global economic recovery and is reflected in their discussions of the 'Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth.' "
He said the IMF will take up these issues when its 186 member countries gather next week in Istanbul. Those countries include G-20 nations.
But Mr. Strauss-Kahn cautioned that supportive policies must be sustained until the world's economic recovery is completed. He said the recovery is "fragile" and added that he remains concerned about high unemployment and other financial problems that could persist, particularly if steps to restore banks to health are not completed.
Brazil's ambassador to the United States, Antonio de Aquiar Patriota, speaking first in Portugese and then English, told reporters the next G-20 Summit is planned for 2010 in Canada, followed by another in Korea. He also spoke of the G-20's emergence as the world's primary economic forum during the summit here.
"Another important accomplishment for this meeting, for the Pittsburgh summit, will be towards a higher degree of institutionalization of the G-20," he said, "So next year, two summits and a yearly summit thereafter.
"What does this represent? This means that the G-20 is not only an ad hoc group that will continue to meet as long as countries are concerned with the current economic and financial crisis, but it is a forum for deliberation even once the economy gets back on its own or improves and the situation economically worldwide improves."
Also, he spoke of the prospects of reaching a deal today on efforts by emerging economies to broker a greater voice at the International Monetary Fund. The so-called BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russa, India and China -- have proposed a 7 percent shift in IMF quotas. Other nations have balked at relinquishing some of their power, however, and favor a 5 percent transfer instead.
"Well, this is the expectation, I think, of the 20 leaders, so yes, the answer is yes, in the affirmative," he said. "I haven't been participating in the last-minute discussions, so we will just have to wait and see. The language that I am aware of says 'at least 5 percent' so indeed the BRIC countries that have been coordinating have been defending the notion that it should be closer to 7 percent. But 'at least closer to 5 percent' allows you that kind of flexibility."
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a press briefing this afternoon that the Group of Eight still has a place in the international stage, a statement that comes amidst widespread doubts regarding the organization's staying power.
"The G-8 has a place for nuclear nonproliferation and political issues," Mr. Berlusconi said during the untranslated briefing, which began fifteen minutes later than its scheduled time of 4:15 p.m. "The G-20 has a different context and deals with a different reality, so to speak."
The G-8 has faced criticism for not being representative of the world's most powerful economies. For instance, China, which is not a G-8 member country, has a larger economy than both Canada and Russia.
Mr. Berlusconi, who hosted the G-8 summit in Italy two months ago, has urged that the two forums be kept separate and for the maintenance of the dominance of the smaller group.
Regarding the results of the two-day G-20 conference, Mr. Berlusconi said he was "very pleased" with the plans to tackle the deregulated financial system and the approach taken toward reconfiguring the International Monetary Fund.
On Tuesday, Mr. Berlusconi and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a joint statement urging major world economies to adopt transparent rules to fight financial speculation and market manipulation, which threaten global economic growth.
"A more transparent and efficient regulatory system must be part of our joint efforts to confront the fundamental questions of energy and food security," they wrote in the letter, which was released by Mr. Berlusconi's office.
Meanwhile Spain President Jose Luis Rodrigues Zapatero said his country is ready to be a global player in efforts to combat global warming.
To Spain, global warming is not a problem but an opportunity to lay the groundwork for a new green economy, he said.
His nation will put up no obstacles in the worldwide effort to reduce carbon emissions, he said.
Mr. Zapatero said he is pushing to ensure that Spain, as well Italy, can play significant roles in the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. He also is pressing for the two nations to become members of the G-20.
Neither nation is a member, but both were represented at the international conference wrapping up today at the Lawrence L. Davidson Convention Center.
Spain has the world's ninth largest economy
Chinese President Hu Jintao underscored the need for government stimulus plans to keep the economic recovery rolling.
"We are soberly aware ... that the foundation of an economic rebound is not yet solid," he said. "A full economic recovery will take a slow and torturous process.
"All countries should keep up the intensity of their economic stimulus plans."
He Yafei, China's vice minister of foreign affairs, urged for greater global coordination in economic policies during a briefing about China's position at the G-20 this morning.
To ensure global economic recovery and promote sustained growth in the future, he said members of the international community "should keep macroeconomic policies more aligned" and maintain the intensity of their policy measures.
To achieve greater coordination in economic policies, the G-20 will release details of a "mutual assessment system," in which countries will be able to assess each other's macroeconomic policies. The system will operate on a voluntary basis, Mr. He said, and will not be legally binding.
Mr. He also said he believe the progress made on the reform of international financial institutions was a "bright spot" of the Pittsburgh summit and has worked to implement the agreements made by leaders at the previous two G-20 summits.
On the African front, the Canadian government has made a commitment to provide the African Development Bank with $2.6 billion in capital.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper this morning announced that Canada will provide the ADB more lending room to respond to the pressures of the global economic crisis.
"Our support recognizes efforts by the African Development Bank to ensure it has sufficient resources to respond quickly to the demands of its borrowing members while it continues its poverty reduction efforts," said Mr. Harper.
Canadian officials said that Canada's increase in callable capital, which serves as a guarantee from shareholders, will see Canada triple the level of its shares in the bank.
That will allow the bank, which supplements development projects through direct loans to African countries, to increase its lending by 75 percent, officials said.
Speaking at a University of Pittsburgh panel on Wednesday, Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank, said he came to Pittsburgh with a goal of seeking more funding for the bank, which was almost at its capacity lending level.
At the high school, the wives of the world leaders and spouses from various international organizations including the United Nations attended a special performance.
After being greeted by First Lady Michelle Obama, they were broken up into five groups, visiting two different classes that represent the school's program, which offers six different majors: visual arts, literary arts, theater, instrumental music, vocal music and dance. Each group was accompanied by a teacher and a student from the school who was on hand to explain what they were seeing.
Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said he was honored to have the First Lady visit, noting that the students "have big dreams and they are displaying for you their commitment to doing all the hard work to reach those dreams."
He also announced that the school was one of two high schools in Pennsylvania to be named a national blue ribbon school, which honors schools that are either academically superior or have made dramatic gains in student achievement and helped close the gaps in achievement among minority and disadvantaged students.
About 11:30, school principal Melissa Pearlman took the stage to introduce each summit spouse, who stood up in the balcony as their names were announced, to cheers from about 250 students seated in the auditorium.
Ms. Pearlman then introduced Mrs. Obama, who was greeted with wild shrieks from the audience. She was wearing a boldly patterned purple and white silk dress from one of her favorite Chicago designers, Maria Cornejo of Zero, and a wide studded leather belt.
She greeted the students with a "How are you all doin' today?" More screams and shrieks. Mrs. Obama went on to deliver a 12-minute speech about the importance of arts education, telling the students "you can literally say the whole world is watching you today," and telling the spouses that they were about to see "some of the hottest up-and-coming young talents in the nation -- that would be you."
While the program focused on the performing arts, 9th grader Miller Schulman of Squirrel Hill -- a student in the school's visual arts department --presented his artwork on the theme of "Pittsburgh Transforming," as a gift to the First Lady.
Musical highlights? Impossible to pick. The school's choral ensemble sang a song written expressly for the occasion, accompanied by Mr. Ma: "Welcome, welcome G20 Summit/We're glad you came and hope things will change."
The program ended at 12:15. All the participants came out on stage for their bows, earning a standing ovation. The guest artists agreed to stay for a discussion about the performance.
The dignitaries then went to the Warhol Museum across the Allegheny River for lunch.
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