奥巴马：没有一个国家能独立解决金融危机

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当地时间4月1日上午，美国总统奥巴马和夫人米歇尔抵达唐宁街10号首相府，与英国首相布朗会面。当被记者问及美国是否应该对当前的经济危机负有责任，奥巴马表示，他宁愿向前看，不愿向后看。他对美国的经济体制毫不担心。
     但就在二十国集团金融峰会即将召开前夕，法国总统萨科齐发出威胁，称如果G20金融峰会不能制定更为严格的全球金融市场规则，他有可能退出峰会，同时，奥巴马说各国之间的分歧被夸大了。

The president says no one country can fix the economic crisis.

Speaking just hours before the start of the G20 meeting of major economies, Mr. Obama stressed the need for all participants to seek common ground.

"I am absolutely confident that this meeting will reflect enormous consensus about the need to work together to deal with these problems," said Mr. Obama.

Tension precedes summit start

But there are signs of tension, as the G20 summit prepares to begin its work in London. Some countries are blaming the United States for sparking the economic crisis through the deregulation of its financial  sector- a move that led to a credit crunch and sparked an economic recession.

The president says the United States has made mistakes, but so too did other countries whose regulatory systems could not keep pace with a changing financial scene. He says it is time to look for solutions.

"At this point, I am less interested in identifying blame, than in fixing the problem," he said.

President says differences are overstated

At home, Mr. Obama has focused on government spending to jump-start the economy and he was expected to urge other nations to take similar steps at the economic summit.

France and Germany have balked at such action, saying the emphasis should be on regulatory reform. French President Nicholas Sarkozy even told an interviewer that he might walk out of the summit, if nations fail to agree on stricter regulation of global financial markets.

Brown predicts no walkouts

President Obama says reports of differences are overstated. And, Prime Minister Brown predicts no one will walk away from the summit and its important work.

"I am confident President Sarkozy will not be here for the first course of our dinner, but will still be sitting as we complete our dinner this evening," said Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown says everyone knows the stakes are high.

"Never before has the world come together in this way to talk about an economic crisis," he said. " Any of the crises we have seen since the second World War, you have not had this level of international cooperation."

Obama agenda packed on first overseas trip

On his first European tour as president, Barack Obama is seeking cooperation on both the economic and security front as he holds bilateral talks on the sidelines of the London summit.

His discussions with Gordon Brown also covered the new American strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran and the search for Middle East peace.

At their joint news conference, Mr. Obama also talked about efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons - an issue that is topping the agenda for his discussions here with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.