Top finance officials from the world's leading industrial nations were expected to seek a solution today for a global economic slowdown while still providing help to embattled emerging countries.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - have come to Washington amid warnings that growth around the world is slowing rapidly.
Their task is to find a common strategy for reinvigorating economic activity without singling out any one region for not contributing as fully as possible to boost global growth prospects.
The session, taking place alongside meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, has already been tinged with controversy over Europe's decision not to cut its interest rates as every other G7 nation has done.