First part of Financial G8 finished

The first part of G8 finance ministers' main meeting, held at the Hotel National, Moscow, ended at 11.45 a.m. Moscow time.

Apart from the finance ministers from the Group of Eight industrial countries – Russia, Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy, the United States and Britain – the event was attended by Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, Karl-Heinz Grasser, Finance Minister of Austria, which this year holds the presidency of the European Union, and Joakin Almounia, EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner.

A working breakfast was held on the sidelines of the main meeting. Apart from the G8 members, it was attended by their counterparts from India and Brazil, as well as by deputy finance ministers of China and South Africa. The participants discussed global economic and trade problems.

In compliance with the agenda, during the first part of the meeting, the financial ministers spent 1.5 hours discussing global economy, the oil market, international development and energy supply, as well as practical aspects involved in writing off the debt of the least developed countries to international financial organizations.

The second half of the event will be devoted to the fight against infectious diseases, terrorism financing and money laundering. The ministers will listen to a short presentation on efficient and responsible public finance management.

The meeting will produce a joint communiqué.

Afterwards the G8 ministers will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

In the afternoon, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and some of his G8 counterparts will give a final news conference at the Forum Hall.