The coming Group of 20 (G20) Pittsburgh summit will focus more on long-term global issues, a former US high ranking official told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Compared with the April London summit, the Pittsburgh summit would pay more attention to ways getting out of this crisis and into some long-term development, instead of crisis responses, said Tims Adams, the former Under Secretary of the US Treasury Department and the current Managing Director of the Lindsey Group.

Adams said the third round of the G20 summit, to be held from September 24 to 25 in Pittsburgh, had a very full agenda.

"Whenever you have 20 people around the table, there are a lot of priorities," Adams said, "I think the first priority is to ensure a worldwide economic recovery and the key countries are on a firm footing, that it is sustainable and we feel comfortable of a recovery, and we stay in the core with the monetary and fiscal stimulus."

"Another priority is thinking about the exit strategy and the coordination fashion," Adams said. "Besides that, there are other issues, such as financial sector reform, bank compensation, capital ratio, leverage ratios, IMF governance, protectionism, climate change, and support to the lowest income countries."

As the US and world economies are in a process of recovery, some experts suggest that the G20 is not necessary any longer. Adams disagreed with that opinion.

He said it was challenging to get 20 different countries to agree on some very complex issues. He also said maybe it was unnecessary to meet three times a year, but it was good to continue discussions at such levels.

He believed the key issue of the meeting was that the developing countries, the emerging markets and the industrialized countries could sit around the same table and share thoughts on a globalized world.

Questioned about recent trade disputes, Adams replied that he hoped the Pittsburgh summit would reaffirm the open trading system, the support to expand free trade and the fight against protectionism.

"It's obvious that late last year we were in tough times globally. Going forward, the G20 and other organizations need to find ways to work together so that we have balanced growth, and we all work and coordinate closely so we can avoid this kind of crisis that we've just experienced."

(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2009)