"In a very bizarre way, roles have been reversed in the global economy," said Alex Patelis, head of international economics at Merrill Lynch. "The typical troublemakers of the global economy, the emerging markets, are actually now the world's creditors.
"We do need a new world financial order, and we will probably get one as a side effect of this crisis," he said.
The meeting was designed to "coordinate [policies] to lessen the effects of global market turmoil and the economic slowdown on all of our countries," Mr. Paulson said.
Before the meeting, President Bush issued a plea for nations to work together to address the crisis, avoiding the go-it-alone protectionist trade strategies that worsened conditions during the Great Depression.
"In an interconnected world, no nation will gain by driving down the fortunes of another. We are in this together. We will come through it together,"
Mr. Bush said during an appearance in the Rose Garden after a private White House meeting with ministers and officials from nearly a dozen nations and international organizations."The G-7 is not working," he said. "We need a better group for a better time."
"For more than two centuries, the U.S. and Europe have exercised an effortless economic, political and cultural hegemony," he wrote. "That era is ending."
