Ministers Agree on Framework

The G8 finance ministers,meeting in Lecce,Italy over the weekend,have produced the Lecce Framework,a strategy for obtaining a set of common principles and standards governing the conduct of international business and finance,according to their communique.Their goal is to identify and resolve regulatory problems that contributed to the financial crisis.U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. would propose more conservative standards,including several international proposals to help raise global standards of oversight of cross-border financial firms and global derivatives markets.
The G8 ministers,representing the U.S.,France,Italy,Germany,Russia,Canada,the U.K. and Japan,noted recent improvements in global financial markets and economic data,although significant risks remain.They asked the International Monetary Fund to help devise a plan for winding down fiscal and monetary interventions,while agreeing to maintain the programs as needed.