German and Russian leaders said on Tuesday that they support France’s plan for the G-20 industrial and developing countries, particularly its recommendations on reforming the international monetary system.
Paris has identified three main areas of focus for itself when it assumes the presidency of the G-20, which include improving international governance, addressing volatility and problems in commodity markets and reforming the global monetary system.
Speaking at a meeting with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “The choice of the theme of a future monetary architecture is a very good choice and we support [France] very actively on this project”.
She further added, “We are seeing the question of currencies and exchange is central and one of the potential risks of moving towards protectionism”.
The Russian President also expressed his support for France’s proposal for monetary reform and urged the G-20 to take "decisive steps."
"We will talk about reserve currencies and perhaps the creation of a global reserve currency," Medvedev said.
An advisor to the French President said during the weekend that the world is living with a monetary “non-system” at the moment.
In Deauville, Sarkozy made it clear that the exercise mustn’t involve pointing finger at certain nations and currencies. "If we enter conflict, we'd just add instability," he said.
According to Sarkozy, the challenge now is to lay the foundation for a new global monetary system.
