Finance ministers from the world's leading industrialized nations and large developing economies say they have agreed urgent action is needed to restore stability in financial markets, but no specific plans were announced.
Ministers from the so-called Group of 20 (G-20) say they agreed at a meeting in Brazil Sunday to take "all necessary steps" to restore confidence in global markets and minimize the risk of a future crisis.
In a statement at the end of a two-day summit in Sao Paulo, the group blamed the financial crisis on excessive risk taking and faulty risk management practices. It said world leaders must design measures to restore financial growth and minimize the impact of the crisis on emerging and low-income countries.
The statement did not include a specific action plan.
The meeting comes ahead of a summit of the leaders of the G-20 countries in Washington beginning Saturday.
The United States says there is some agreement ahead of the November 15th summit.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino Saturday says the U.S. shares "common ground" with European Union leaders on some of the ways to resolve the financial turmoil, but did not give any specifics.
The outgoing administration of U.S. President George Bush has been resisting calls for comprehensive, binding decisions at the summit.
Developing nations are demanding a more prominent role in a proposed overhaul of the global financial system.
Such nations - including Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called "BRIC" countries - have long complained they do not have fair representation within the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, Bloomberg and Reuters.
