G20 officials say they will make a "sustained effort" to boost economic growth worldwide, despite marked differences of opinion on how to tackle the global financial crisis.
Finance officials from the world's richest countries agreed Saturday that the key priority is getting banks lending again, which they plan to address by pumping more cash into banks and by dealing with toxic assets that weigh down balance sheets.
Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the talks were productive and should help get the financial system working properly again.
"Our mission was to get a commitment to fix the banks, and we did," Flaherty told Â鶹´«Ã½net.
He added that the financial plague has iced Canada's credit markets and stifled lending markets across the country.
"This is a commitment that we all agreed to proceed with today," he said, following a weekend summit in southern England.
The G20 countries also pledged to boost the role of the International Monetary Fund by increasing its monetary resources, though they did offer an exact figure.
That debate will be left for an upcoming meeting in London next month.
There was little support from member countries, however, for a U.S.-backed push to have governments spend more money to boost their individual economies.
Still, G20 finance officials did agree that current stimulus efforts are important to economic recovery. The leaders also called for stronger financial regulation.
British Treasury Secretary Alistair Darling said his country was "prepared to take whatever action is necessary to ensure growth is restored."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said there was "broad consensus globally on the need to act aggressively to restore growth to the global economy."
The U.S. and Europe have been at odds over their approaches to fighting the global economic slowdown: While the U.S. has favoured heavy fiscal stimulus, many European countries have preferred spending money on social welfare and unemployment.
The officials also pledged to help developing economies that are suffering from the loss of international capital flows -- though some emerging economies had criticisms of their own.
Earlier in the day, Brazil, Russia, India and China released their own statement, calling for more say in the direction of the IMF.
That statement was echoed by the G20, which also acknowledged that the IMF should better reflect the role of developing countries.
With files from The Associated Press
