英首相戏称G20峰会是补觉良机

英国首相卡梅伦昨日开玩笑表示，到韩国首尔参加二十国集团峰会让他有机会把女儿出生后这几个月来损失的睡眠好好补一补。他在一次商务峰会上戏称：“大家来韩国是为了参加峰会或者商务会议，我来只是为了好好睡一觉。”卡梅伦夫人萨曼莎今年8月份刚刚诞下一名千金，此外，两人还有两个年幼的孩子。早些时候，他还曾开玩笑表示，二十国集团峰会期间他花在推广英国申办2018年世界杯上的时间比在峰会相关核心事务上的还要多。对于此次峰会，卡梅伦表示虽然有关国际经济失衡等重大问题的讨论不太可能有进展，但他坚称会议有其意义所在，值得各国领导人关注和参与。

British Prime Minister David Cameron joked on Thursday that getting away from home for the G20 summit would allow him to catch up on his sleep after the birth of his baby daughter.

"Everyone else has come to Korea for a summit or a business meeting. I've come just for a good night's sleep," Cameron told delegates at a business summit.

Cameron and his wife Samantha had a daughter, Florence, in August and also have two other young children.

Cameron is on a gruelling five-day trip which began with an overnight flight from London and a 36-hour visit to China.

The prime minister, who has a quick wit, earlier joked that he was spending more time at the summit promoting England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup than he was on core G20 issues.

The gathering opened in the South Korean capital Seoul amid widespread skepticism about it making any significant progress.

British officials expect the most positive outcome will be keeping a dialogue open between world leaders on the global economy rather than agreeing any significant deal.

Others expect the gathering – which is costing hundreds of millions of pounds to stage – will be little more than a talking shop. Mr Cameron was forced to dismiss accusations that Britain was “a mere spectator” at a ­summit that will be dominated by China and America. He said: “No, I don’t accept that. I mean, there are some good things that Britain is getting into this G20 summit.”

Britain was pressing for a free trade area in Africa to support economic growth and calling for the restarting of global trade talks.

The PM admitted the summit was unlikely to make progress on “the biggest issue of all” – the economic imbalance between the struggling Western countries and the booming East – but insisted: “It is worth being here.”