Geithner sees 'shared commitment' at G20

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said leaders have a "shared commitment" at the G20 summit for financial reform to sustain a global economic recovery.

Speaking with reporters before the two-day summit opened in Pittsburgh, Geithner said the session opened when "certainly for the first time in a year, we're seeing the first signs of optimism about prospects for global recovery."

"This is encouraging, but we have a ways to go," he said.

"And I can say with confidence based on my discussions with finance ministers and central bank governors from around the world, there is a common, shared commitment to make sure we're working together to sustain these early signs of recovery and growth."

Geithner said the international economy can lo longer depend on U.S. consumers, as Americans change spending habits, increase savings and cut back on borrowing.

"And as we save more so we can invest more in the United States, the world is going to have to shift sources of growth more towards domestic demand," he said.

Geithner said the G20 leaders are expected to agree on stronger financial system standards.

"We are not going to walk away from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and leave unchanged, and leave in place, the tragic vulnerabilities that caused this crisis," he said.

Leaders representing 85 percent of the world's economic output traveled to Pittsburgh Thursday for the two-day summit. Most of them traveled from New York, where they attended the start of the U.N. General Assembly.

The G20 gathering marks President Barack Obama's inaugural hosting of a major international summit.

In separate dinners Thursday at the Phipps Conservatory, the heads of state and their financial ministers are expected to assess their previous efforts to rouse the global economy out of its slump, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

On Friday, the meetings move to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where the leaders are expected to discuss trade, climate change, tightening financial regulations and the global financial crisis.