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Finance Ministers Gather in Canada to Talk About Blocking Assets of Terrorists, Rejuvenating Global Economy

By Traci Carl The Associated Press

Published: Nov 16, 2001

OTTAWA (AP) - Finance ministers from around the world gathered Friday to discuss choking off the assets of terrorists and jump-starting the lagging global economy in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The meeting of the Group of 20 nations was originally planned for India, but was moved to Ottawa after Indian officials said they were concerned about security.

Policy making bodies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank also are in Ottawa, holding talks postponed in late September due to the terrorist attack on Washington.

Security in the heart of Canada's capital was tight, with police barricading the central streets where the meetings are being held.

Police said they expected protests, but nothing on the scale of the tens of thousands of demonstrators at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in April.

Anti-globalization protesters held light demonstrations at the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Doha, Qatar, and local activists said in recent weeks that the Sept. 11 attacks had caused them to reconsider methods of protest.

During the weekend meeting of finance ministers from the European Union and 19 industrialized and developing nations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill will seek commitments to strengthen an international crackdown on funds for terrorism.

"Basically we want to make sure we put in place national plans and an internationally integrated plan in terms of combating terrorist financing," said Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin, the meeting's host.

While major U.S. allies such as Canada have joined Washington in seizing and freezing assets of terrorists, it may be harder to get similar action from Islamic nations, said Sherman Katz, an international business expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"The weak ones are the Saudi Arabias of the world," he said.

Martin said the G-20 meeting also would discuss the lagging world economy and the "problems of the poorest of the poor."

The Group of 20, created in 1999 to address international financial concerns, represents the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001