国际英语新闻：White House says G20 fundamental to U.S. domestic, international economic agenda

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Group of 20 (G20) plays not only crucial role in global economy, but also important to the United States' domestic growth agenda, according to a White House briefing on Monday.

"We see the G20 as fundamental not just to our international economic agenda, but to our ability to have a lasting recovery at home, because fostering balance, global growth is essential to fostering growth here in the American economy," said Ben Rhodes, U. S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications at a briefing ahead of the G20 summit which will be held in Seoul, capital of South Korea, next week.

"We've shifted the focus of our international economic cooperation from the G8 to the G20. There's really not an area of attention on the international stage that's gotten the kind of focus that we've applied to our efforts through the G20 to avert an economic catastrophe and to promote balance in global growth," Rhodes said.

"The G20 is now considered the premier forum for international economic cooperation and includes the largest emerging and developed country economies, plus the attendance of various international organizations and regional organizations, and it deals with a whole broad range of issues," said Michael B.G. Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs at the briefing.

Froman said that leaders from the G20 will talk about the status of the recovery, the mechanisms to be put in place to ensure strongly balanced and sustainable growth, the importance of completing the work to put in place a 21st century financial regulatory system, the steps to be taken to reform the international financial institutions, and the agenda for addressing energy security, climate change, trade, and anti- corruption.

In addition, the Seoul summit will also talk about the issue of development since the Koreans had put the development policy a focus of the G20.

Froman said that the development agenda is critical to the U.S. domestic economy and to the U.S. recovery and its ability to increase exports and create well-paying jobs here at home.

He said that with regard to the G20's framework, "the objective of ensuring a durable recovery and avoiding the re-emergence of imbalances goes to the issue of the U.S. consumer no longer being the consumer of last resort and the need to have greater domestic demand in other countries around the world."