JUST showing up counted for a lot. Leaders may have not quite rewritten the rules of global finance in a weekend. But they still accomplished much by just gathering in such large numbers - both the older economic powerhouses and the newer fast-growing ones - to grapple with the world's financial panic and pledging to work together to contain it. That rare show of unity, and a vow to work in the days ahead to better regulate global markets and to reform creaky 1940s-vintage financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, enabled leaders to proclaim the summit a success. It also signaled a shifting balance of power on the world stage in which important emerging economies are demanding a stronger voice. And the summit posed a major challenge for the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama, who wasn't even at the meeting. It puts pressure on him to join with other leaders in restructuring the global financial system soon after taking office, when he already has a wide array of must-do items on his agenda. Saturday's statement by summit leaders contained broad themes but little in the way of concrete proposals. They can be developed at subsequent meetings, including one in April. “You have to give credit to the leaders for coming together and to the administration for organizing the meeting and to getting this off the ground. But it's going to be even more difficult to land it someplace,” said Steven Schrage, a trade official in President George W. Bush's first term. The Bush White House “is kind of turning over the controls to the Obama administration,” said Schrage, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said the path ahead, requiring agreements on complex issues among an expanded group of participants, would be a difficult one for Obama and other world leaders. Obama will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The makeup of the weekend session was as important as its communique advocating comprehensive reform. In the past, economic summits have mainly been held with just a select few players - principally the world's top seven old-world industrial democracies: the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Canada and Italy. More recently, Russia joined the club, bringing the number to eight, or Group of Eight. But at Bush's behest, attendance was expanded to more than 20, and included many important economies that had been excluded in the past such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. In all, the session was attended by leaders of countries that account for 90 percent of the world's economic output. And they were not just finance ministers, but heads of state. In the future, the larger grouping may become the norm for dealing with knotty economic problems. “We've got to get beyond the G-8 because China and India are getting to be too big as players to ignore,” said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's, the New York based financial ratings service. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh said countries excluded in the past must be included in the future. “We need to ensure that any new architecture we design is genuinely multilateral with adequate representation from countries reflecting changes in economic realities,” he told the other leaders. Recognizing his days as “the decider” are all but over, Bush tried to make the most of his lame-duck status by picking the venue for the meeting, selecting the guest list and appealing to world leaders not to try to reinvent the free-market system. But his ability to drive the agenda was limited. “Our economies are being hit very hard. And so there was a common understanding that all of us should promote pro-growth economic policy,” Bush said in summing up the session. “There is more work to be done and there will be further meetings, sending a clear signal that a (single) meeting is not going to solve the world's problems.” As political theater, the session gave other countries a chance to vent their frustration. Many leaders, including Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, complain that the U.S. and the Bush administration are to blame for the deepening crisis. But the joint statement issued by the summit partners did not expressly blame the U.S., asserting instead that “policymakers, regulators and supervisors, in some advanced countries, did not adequately appreciate and address the risks building up in the financial markets.” World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the summit was a productive start. “What matters now are the follow-up actions. People are looking to leaders for a global, coordinated and fast response.” – AP __
