The Group of Seven (G7) countries on Monday welcomed the $700 billion U.S. markets rescue plan and said they were prepared to increase international cooperation to protect the world's financial and banking system. “We pledge to enhance international cooperation to address the ongoing challenges in the global economy and world markets and maintain heightened close cooperation between finance ministries, central banks, and regulators,” G7 finance ministers said in a statement following a 20-minute telephone conference call on Monday. “We are ready to take whatever actions may be necessary, individually and collectively, to ensure the stability of the international financial system,” the ministers said. The statement said they welcomed the “extraordinary actions” taken by Washington to remove non-liquid assets that have contaminated bank's accounts and fueled a financial crisis widely seen as the worst since the 1930s. But one day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he was “aggressively” encouraging other countries to establish their own rescue packages, there was little sign other G7 governments were prepared to follow Washington's lead. Monday's statement, coming a few weeks before G7 finance ministers and central-bank governors meet in Washington, follows a tumultuous week that began with the demise of Lehman Brothers and ended with one of the biggest financial rescues in history. The G7 is comprised of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and Canada.
