President Hu Jintao on Friday asked world leaders to continue with their stimulus packages in a more coordinated way to ensure that early signs of economic recovery translate into lasting growth.

President Hu Jintao waves to delegates as he and US President Barack Obama enter the Phipps Conservatory to attend a working dinner for senior dignitaries to the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, September 24, 2009. [China Daily]

Global financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, should expedite their reforms to enable emerging economies to have a greater say in the decision-making process, he said.

He urged world leaders to implement the agreements already reached at the two previous G20 summits, in Washington and London, to take the reform of the international financial system forward.

Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the US supported China's position on the matter. Given the rise of China's economy, "it's the right thing" and Europe, too, realizes that, Geithner said.

"Faced with complicated economic situations, the most pressing task we still face is to deal with the global financial crisis and persistently stimulate economic growth," Hu told leaders of the world's largest economies at the G20 summit, which opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday.

With early signs of economic recovery stimulating confidence and boosting stock markets across the world, some countries have said it is time to consider exist strategies to unwind their stimulus packages - rolled out at the height of the global economic crisis - which have pumped trillions of dollars into the capital market.

But Hu warned that despite the positive signs, the foundation for recovery is still unstable, and uncertainties still exit in the world economy.

The global economy will take a "long and tortuous process" to fully stand on its own.

He said that China is firmly against "trade protectionism in any form" and calls for the establishment of a "fair, open and free" global trade and investment system.