All countries need to take steps to lift economy: Obama

Denying that he had asked the European nations to spend too much to stimulate their economy, the US president Barack Obama has asserted that all the countries of the world would have to take steps to successfully fight the current global crisis.

"I haven't asked them (European countries) to do anything," Obama said in response to a question at his second prime time live press conference at the White House on Tuesday night.

"What I've suggested is that all of us need to take steps in order to lift the economy. We don't want a situation in which some countries are making extraordinary efforts and other countries aren't, with the hope that somehow the countries that are making those important steps lift everybody up," he said.

"And so somebody's got to take leadership," Obama argued.

"It's not just me by the way. I was with Kevin Rudd, prime minister of Australia today, who was very forceful in suggesting that countries around the world, those with the capacity to do so, take the steps that are needed to fill this enormous hole in global demand," he said.

Rudd met Obama at White House on Tuesday.

Identifying the goals he has set for the upcoming G-20 Summit at London, Obama said the 20 most powerful economies of the world need to do a couple of things.
     
"Number one, say to all countries: Let's do what's necessary in order to create jobs and to get the economy moving again. Let's avoid steps that could result in protectionism that would further contract global trade. Let's focus on how we are going to move our regulatory process forward in order so that we do not see the kinds of systemic breakdowns that we've already seen," he said.

"That means not just dealing with banks, but also some of the other financial flows that are out here that are currently unregulated. We've got to update regulations that date back to the 1930s, and we're going to have to do some coordination with other countries in order to accomplish that," Obama said.