UN chief sympathises with economic protesters

United Nations, Oct 18: UN Chief Ban Ki-moon has said the growing Wall Street protests demonstrate ''frustrations'' of the people across the globe due to global financial crisis and asked G-20 leaders to look beyond their own domestic issues and come up with ''actionable plans'' to fix the problem.

"That is what you are seeing all around the world, starting from Wall Street. People are showing their frustrations by trying to send a very clear and unambiguous message to the world," Ban said.

He asked world leaders to use the upcoming G-20 summit in Cannes to find solutions for the entire global economy and not focus merely on domestic financial concerns.

In a message to the G-20 leaders, Ban said "business-as-usual or just looking at their own domestic economic issues will not give any an swers to the current very serious international economic crisis."

The G-20 leaders have a very "broad and important, crucial, responsibility to perform...towards the global economy," Ban, currently on a visit to Switzerland, told reporters there yesterday.

He said leaders of the developed and emerging economies should restore confidence and trust of the people and come out with a broader perspective to tackle the economic crisis.
He said the G-20 nations make up 80 per cent of the world's GDP and 85 per cent of the world's population.

"We have to really address this issue with a sense of flexibility and compromise, and come out with actionable plans," he said.

The G-20 summit will be held on November 3-4 in Cannes, France.

PTI