Following are quotes from world leaders, finance ministers and other policymakers ahead of the G20 summit in London Thursday to discuss the global financial crisis. US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “We're seeing very strong support around the world for the need for a very powerful response to this crisis, on the need to bring recovery back as quickly as possible, fix our financial systems, expand markets for trade and investment around the world and reform this financial system so that we have in place stronger. smarter, 21st century rules for our marketplace,” he told Bloomberg Television. “I've never seen this much suppport around the world, this much cooperation this early in a crisis, I think, in history. On US car industry “We want to build a stronger USautomobile industry and that's gong to require very significant resytructuring. “They've made some progress but they're not there yet. We want to hekp make that possible and we're going to do as much as we can to make sure these companies emerge stronger, are going to be viable in the longer term without government support in the future.” “We're going to look at a range of options but our objective is ... that these companies are able to commit to deliver a restructuring that's going to leave them in a position where they're going to be strong enough in the future to survive without government assistance. German Chancellor Angela Merkel “Countries that do not stick to agreements must be named. The communique needs to set out very concrete steps. The summit must delineate the new architecture of financial markets.” German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck “I would be grateful if we could let economic stimulus packages take effect, rather than make the same mistake we made before ... when on the first economic stimulus package, we limited the effect by - before having legally passed the first economic stimulus package - we gave room to speculation of a second stimulus package. “With the current worldwide tendency to pass debt-financed programs, capital markets' ability to absorb (them) could be limited and overloaded at some point. That's concerning me in the medium-term view. France President Nicolas Sarkozy France and Germany will “speak with one voice” “Our objective is simple. We demand results in London we want concrete results.” “In the results, we want the principle of new regulation to be a major objective ..... This is not negotiable”. “I will not associate myself with a summit that would end with a communique made of false compromises that would not tackle the issues that concern us,” he told Europe 1 radio. “Regulation is at the heart of the debate that we are going to be holding during these hours.” “As of today, there is no firm agreement in place. The conversation is going forward, there are projects on the table.As things stand at the moment, these projects do not suit France or Germany.” “The empty chair policy would mark a failure, which would be that of the summit.” “I do not want to think that we will come to that. (France and Germany) are on exactly the same wavelength. We have and we will carry a European view on values which are those of Europe.” French Economy Minister Christine Labarde “What is going to be difficult to get an agreement on is all the points on regulation.” US President Barack Obama on apparent rift over stimulus/regulation “The truth is that's just arguing at the margins. The core notion that government has to take some steps to deal with a contracting global market place and that we should be promoting growth -- that's not in dispute. “On the regulatory side, this notion that somehow there are those who are pushing for regulation and those who are resisting regulation is belied by the facts. “(U.S. Treasury Secretary) Tim Geithner who is sitting here today went before Congress and proposed as aggressive a set of regulatory measures as any that have emerged among G20 members – that was before we showed up.” On consensus, he said: “I am absolutely confident that this meeting will reflect enormous consensus about the need to work in concert to deal with these problems.” UK PM Gordon Brown “We are within a few hours, I think, of agreeing a global plan for economic recovery and reform and I think the significance of this is that we are looking at every aspect.” Japan Prime Minister Taro Aso “I think there are countries who understand the importance of fiscal mobilisation and there are some countries that do not,” he told the Financial Times in an interview splashed across the paper's front page on Wednesday. “Which is why, I believe, Germany has come up with their views.” Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan “Joint action is required to struggle with the global economic crisis. No country can manage the crisis alone,” Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara. “No concessions should be made on the free market economy and countries should not move towards protectionism. Protectionist measures would make things worse. “Our country will continue to give the necessary support to world cooperation in the struggle against the global crisis.” Canadian PM Stephen Harper “If anything, leaders should overact at this point. I think there would be a risk of underacting. Let's assume that we need dramatic action, let's do it ... I would like to see it across the G20.”
