Pres. Obama’s Final Press Conference
Barack Obama: two days of very substantive discussions
After having thanked, the President Sarkozy for his leadership and hospitality, American President Barak Obama thanked the people of Cannes for "this extraordinary setting". Since recovery has been fragile, despite efforts to rescue the global economy, the heads of state of the G20 came to Cannes with no illusions: "Emerging economies have started to slow. Global demand is weakening. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people are unemployed, or underemployed. Put simply, the world faces challenges that put our economic recovery at risk." So the central question coming into Cannes was this: Could the world’s largest economies confront this challenge squarely, could we make progress? After two days of very substantive discussions I can say that we’ve come together and made important progress to put our economic recoveries on a firmer footing." Evoking the Greece crisis, President Obama told: "I am confident that Europe has the capacity to meet this challenge. I know it isn’t easy, but what is absolutely critical, and what the world looks for in moments such as this, is action. That’s how we confronted our financial crisis in the United States -- having our banks submit to stress tests that were rigorous, increasing capital buffers, and passing the strongest financial reforms since the Great Depression." President Obama added: "And here in Cannes we’ve moved the ball forward. Europe remains on track to implement a sustainable path for Greece. Italy has agreed to a monitoring program with the IMF -- in fact, invited it. Tools have been identified that will better enable the world to support European action. And European finance ministers will carry this work forward next week." He stressed again the need of a strong Europe: "If Europe isn't growing, it's harder for us to do what we need to do for the American people: creating jobs, lifting up the middle class, and putting our fiscal house in order. And that's why I've made it clear that the United States will continue to do our part to support our European partners as they work to resolve this crisis." The United States also have their part of work to achive: "Back home, we're fighting for the American Jobs Act, which will put people back to work, even as we meet our responsibilities to reduce our deficit in the coming years." As far as G20 discussions results are concerned, Mr Obama said: "We also made progress here in Cannes on our rebalancing agenda. In an important step forward, countries with large surpluses and export-oriented countries agreed to take additional steps to support growth and boost demand in their own countries. In addition, we welcome China's determination to increase the flexibility of the RMB. This is something we've been calling for for some time, and it will be a critical step in boosting growth." The American President also announced other important steps: "Finally, we also made progress across a range of challenges to our shared prosperity. Following our reforms in the United States, the G20 adopted an unprecedented set of high-level financial reforms to prevent a crisis in the future. We agreed to keep phasing out fossil fuel subsidies - perhaps the single-most important step we can take in the near term to fight climate change and create clean-energy economies. And even as our countries work to save lives from the drought and terrible famine in the Horn of Africa, we agreed on the need to mobilize new resources to support the development that lifts nations out of poverty."
