German Chancellor Angela Merkel today called the G20 summit in Pittsburgh a "milestone" on the road to greater regulation of world financial markets, dpa reported. The international community should not relax, but learn from the global financial crisis and ensure there is no repeat, Merkel told a news conference before leaving for the United States. "It can happen at any time that the vigour (for reform) eases," the chancellor said ahead of the two-day meeting of leaders of the world's leading economies, which is set to begin later Thursday. Merkel said the central theme of the talks would be financial market stabilization. Other topics, like imbalances in global trade and currency rates, should not be allowed to distract from this, she said. The chancellor also said that one of Germany's goals in Pittsburgh was to ensure that the banking lobby did not undermine efforts for greater regulation of financial institutions. "Politicians need to have some courage to take steps that are not immediately welcomed by international banks," she said. The Pittsburgh gathering has been called to implement recommendations taken at the two previous G20 summits, which were designed to help the world recover from the global economic crisis. Merkel said she was looking for progress on limiting excessive bonuses paid to bankers, considered by some to have encouraged risk- taking that helped trigger last year's financial crisis. She repeated her demand that every financial product, every financial institution and every financial centre should be subject to regulation. The chancellor also said she favoured a greater role for the G20, which includes the world's richest nations, as well as developing countries with advanced economies.
