U.S. President Barack Obama has told the United States' economic partners that their own prosperity is linked to America's, and that all must work together to ensure a global recovery.
Mr. Obama released his message in a letter Wednesday to 20 leaders of the world's largest economies, known as the G20. The group is set to meet Thursday in Seoul, South Korea.
In the letter, Mr. Obama says the United States will do its part to restore strong economic growth and keep world markets calm. He says the most important contribution the United States can make toward this goal is to boost the economic recovery at home by creating jobs and raising incomes.
He says increasing consumer demand in countries with surpluses, and increasing savings in countries with deficits, can spur strong global growth.
Mr. Obama could be on the defensive at the summit, due to the U.S. central bank's plan to buy $600 billion in long-term government bonds. Some nations say this will give American goods an unfair advantage on world markets.
Trade balances and currency exchange rates have emerged as top issues at the summit. China is under pressure to allow the value of its currency to rise. That would make its exports more expensive and reduce its huge trade surplus, which rose by more than 50 percent in the last month alone.
Earlier Wednesday, wrapping up a visit to Indonesia, Mr. Obama delivered a major speech (Wednesday) saying the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam.
In his speech at the national university in Jakarta, the president said the al-Qaida terrorist network and its affiliates have no claim to be leaders of Islam or any other religion.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
