Finance teams from 21 Pacific Rim economies gathered in Peru on Wednesday as calls grew for large emerging markets such as China to take on a bigger role in running an international financial system racked by crisis. At the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, senior officials from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund pushed for an expansion of the club of the world's richest nations - the Group of Eight - to include China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Agreements forged in Peru, and at a meeting of top finance ministers and central bankers later this week in Brazil, will help set the framework for a summit of world leaders this month in Washington. Revamping the world's financial architecture, which includes institutions formed after World War II such as the World Bank and IMF, is on the agenda. “Were going to talk about China having a key role. A global problem needs global solutions, which includes not just advanced economies, but also strong emerging ones,” said John Lipsky, the IMF's first deputy managing director. The G-8, which helps set the course of the world economy in annual meetings, includes the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia - all of which belong to APEC. Other G-8 members are Britain, Germany, France and Italy. A G-8 expansion could dovetail with requests for major developing nations to contribute more resources to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, in exchange for a greater say in how the two lenders are run. “The idea of the G-8 plus these six countries represents 62 percent of global GDP,” said Juan Jose Daboub, World Bank managing director, referring to China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. “They are the ones who can do the most, to take helpful actions, so it's important that they be at the table when decisions are made,” he said. Daboub said World Bank President Robert Zoellick would take the G-8 expansion proposal to the Nov. 14-15 summit in Washington, taking place under the umbrella of Group of 20, which groups the world's biggest industrialized countries. “Chile believes the voices of developing nations should be heard,” Finance Minister Andres Velasco said. “Unlike previous crises, developing nations will keep growing next year, and to some extent Asia, Africa and Latin America will be the engine of the world economy.” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is also asking rich emerging economies to step up contributions to the IMF to aid poor developing nations.
