US to host next G-20 summit in Pittsburgh Sep 24-25

WASHINGTON - The leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies

including India will gather in Pittsburgh, an icon of America’s economic

renewal, Sep 24-25 for the next G-20 summit.

President Barack Obama will host leaders from 20 countries which represent

85 percent of the global economy to discuss ways of recovering from the

global economic and financial crisis, the White House announced Thursday.

At the Pittsburgh summit, Obama and other leaders will “take stock of the

progress made since the Washington and London summits, and discuss further

actions to assure a sound and sustainable recovery from the global economic

and financial crisis,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

The leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh previously met in London

in April and in Washington last November. The group decided during its

London summit to meet in autumn in the US, considering world leaders would

already be in neighbouring New York in September for the UN General Assembly

meeting.

“It’s on the regular schedule of things,” Gibbs said.

The Obama administration selected Pittsburgh as host city to highlight the

region’s economic transformation following the decline of the steel industry

during the 1980s, he said.

“It’s an area that has seen its share of economic woes in the past, but

because of foresight and investment is now renewed, giving birth to renewed

industries that are creating the jobs of the future. And I think the

president believes it’d be a good place to highlight some of that stuff,”

Gibbs said.

The summit will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Centre in

downtown Pittsburgh, an environmentally friendly facility that has received

LEED Gold Certification from the US Green Building Council.

– Indo-Asian News Service