Brazil's Lula hails G20 meeting as decisive change

Brasilia: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday the weekend's G20 summit was an "extremely decisive step" toward increasing the clout of developing countries in international decision-making.

The Washington meeting of the world's 20 largest economies to respond to the global financial crisis agreed to a place for emerging countries on the Financial Stability Forum, where top bank regulators evaluate banking and market risk.

It also opened the door to more seats for developing countries at the IMF and World Bank.

"The meeting is important because it changes the logic of policy decisions," Lula said in his weekly radio address. "It's no longer the G8, now the G20 has an important role."

The changes could herald a major shift in the global balance of economic power, but some analysts criticised the meeting for a lack of concrete action and financial markets fell on Monday amid disappointment over the outcome.

Lula welcomed the G20's backing of more regulation of the financial system including a review of accountancy standards, corporate pay, bankruptcy rules, and credit rating agencies.

The G20 meeting also agreed to work for a breakthrough in the Doha round of world trade talks by the end of the year. Lula's government, which has taken a lead role representing the developing world in the talks, has pushed hard for a resumption of the process.