Dutch State Secretary for Finance Jan Kees de Jager, who led the Dutch delegation to Saturday's G20 summit in Washington, was very pleased with the results of the meeting, Dutch media reported on Sunday.

The summit was meaningful and produced concrete results, said de Jager, who replaced Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende as the head of the Dutch delegation to the summit after Balkenende left for home shortly after arrival in Washington due to the death of his father.

The financial institutions are strengthened and the surveillance of the sector is broadened. The IMF will play a bigger role, but there will not be a supranational regulator for the world, said de Jager.

De Jager was also pleased that the countries have agreed to curtail risk-taking incentives, such as bonuses to encourage managers and bankers to take short-term risks.

The state secretary said it is also important that the summit agreed to combat the tendency towards protectionism at this difficult time. The EU and the Netherlands, with its open economy, oppose protectionism and consider it dangerous to the world economy, he said.

De Jager stressed the need to finish the Doha Round of trade talks, which has been deadlocked for seven years.

He said he believes that the G20 summit sent the signal that negotiations need to be concluded and a new world trade agreement will help the world better cope with the effects of the financial crisis.

It is the first time for the G20, which usually brought together finance ministers and central bankers at annual meetings, to hold a summit since it was established in 1999 in Washington D.C.

The body groups the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Britain, Canada, Russia, the European Union, Argentine, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.

Spain and the Netherlands are also invited to the summit although they are not counted as members.

(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2008)