BEIJING - Canada's finance minister is urging China to continue to play a pivotal role in keeping the global economic recovery going.
In a speech Thursday in Beijing, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the fast-growing Chinese economy helped prop up trade around the world during the 2008-09 recession.
Now that the recovery is starting to take hold, the Asian economic giant's contribution will become even more important, Flaherty said in a speech for the Investing in Canada symposium.
"When the international economy was in crisis, China's response was pivotal to minimizing a global downturn that was the deepest and most synchronized since the 1930s," Flaherty said.
"As we work to ensure a fledgling recovery takes root, this nation's contribution will become even more important. And, in playing an increasingly important role in the global economy, I'm here today to tell you that you will continue to have a friend and partner in Canada."
During the recession that started with a banking crisis in the United States in the fall of 2008, the Chinese government opened up the credit tap and stimulated its domestic economy with hundreds of billions of dollars in spending and credit.
That helped maintain Chinese demand for many of the resources it buys from other countries, such as Canada and Australia.
Today, China is trying to curb inflationary pressures by curbing credit and demand and there are worries in some countries that a slower Chinese economy will hurt Europe, the United States and other trading partners.
Flaherty's speech comes ahead of a meeting of leaders from 20 major economic nations in Toronto later in June, and a day before Friday's G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet in South Korea.
Elsewhere in his speech, Flaherty welcomed growing investment and trade between Canada and China. He noted that China was Canada's only major trading partner to increase its imports of Canadian goods last year.
China imports grain, fertilizer, chemicals and many other resources from Canada.
In his address, Flaherty emphasized the need for countries to get their budget deficits under control to ensure a strong and sustainable recovery. He also called on G20 members to deliver on prior commitments to financial reform.
Earlier this week, Flaherty met with China's finance minister and said afterwards that China backs Canada's position against a European and U.S. proposal to to create an international tax on banks.
