Reply #6: Calls for Barack Obama to attend G20 summit**Foreign leaders want Obama there [View All]

[babylonsister]

Calls for Barack Obama to attend G20 summit

Calls are growing for Barack Obama to attend the G20 financial summit in Washington amid fears the event will be pointless if he isn't there.


By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 6:20PM GMT 07 Nov 2008


Foreign leaders are queuing up to meet the President-Elect on the sidelines of next weekend's meeting on the global crisis.

But uncertainty hangs over the role Mr Obama will play at the two-day meeting, which is planned to be the first of several designed to discuss measures for responding to the meltdown and ways to prevent future crises.

Both the White House and Mr Obama's aides have claimed he will follow the traditional low-profile role of a president-elect during the transition from election to inauguration.

But a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters the situation was not so clear-cut.

"We are consulting closely with the president-elect's team. We are seeking their views and input. This effort will obviously scramble the two administrations and it will be up to the president-elect as to how he would like to have input," the official said.

But given the scale of the crisis he may get the green light from George W Bush's White House to either attend or hold meetings on the sidelines with leaders he will soon be working with.

James Wolfensohn, the former head of the World Bank, said it would be absurd if Mr Obama did not attend.

"I don't think any of the foreign leaders are going to look for guidance to President Bush at this time. They are going to look to Barack Obama.

"I know that half of them are coming here in the expectation that Obama will be invited. If he is not invited, you are not going to get much out of these meetings because they do expect president Bush is going to be able to deliver," he said.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3400720/Calls-for-Barack-Obama-to-attend-G20-summit.html