(Recasts lead, updates throughout with more details.)
OTTAWA -(Dow Jones)- The G20 leaders summit this weekend will be primarily about the economy and focus on how to bolster global growth, including countries' economic stimulus plans, a senior aide to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.
"The more urgent focus is around getting the global economy growing again. I would assume that countries will be talking about stimulus packages as a part of that," the aide told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
G20 leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, meet in Washington Saturday for the emergency economic summit.
The aide said the leaders will discuss financial regulation in the context of the causes of the crisis and how to prevent a recurrence. But he said Canada doesn't want the summit to "get bogged down in the equivalent of constitutional talks around international financial regulation."
He said many of the regulatory problems can be addressed at national levels. He said Canada's regulatory approach can serve as a model for the world as its banks have been able to withstand the shocks of the crisis.
He said the summit shouldn't be "side-tracked" into discussing "secondary" issues such as expanding the Group of Eight most industrialized nations to include fast-growing emerging markets.
"Our focus will definitely be around the economy, not these other issues," he said.
No bilateral meetings have been scheduled because the leaders will spend all their time in collective discussion, the aide said. However, Harper has held telephone discussions with 14 world leaders as well as U.S. President-elect Barack Obama ahead of the summit, he added.
-Nirmala Menon, Dow Jones Newswires; 613-237-0668; nirmala.menon@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 12, 2008 17:02 ET (22:02 GMT)

Publié le 12 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones