Toronto to host G20 summit in June
Toronto will play host to the next G20 summit in June, a statement by the Canadian prime minister's office has said.
World leaders will gather in Canada's biggest city June 26 and 27 to hold talks on economic recovery, the statement said Monday.
The announcement of Toronto as the summit venue was made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Seoul after his talks with South Korean leaders.
Earlier, the Canadians had planned to host G20 leaders in the resort town of Huntsville - about 250 km north of Toronto - which is also the venue for the G8 summit at the same time.
But the resort town is not big enough to accommodate more than 10,000 participants, including leaders and the media, who will come for the G20 summit.
Now, the G8 leaders are expected to finish their summit before joining the G20 gathering in Toronto.
"The G20 has facilitated decisive action throughout the past year to limit the impact of the global financial crisis on jobs and growth," the Canadian prime minister said after announcing Toronto as the venue.
Canada was given the responsibility of holding the G20 summit last September amid the global recession.
Since world leaders at the last Pittsburgh summit had agreed to launch a framework for policies and ways to generate strong, sustainable and balanced global growth, he said one of Canada's goals at the Toronto Summit would be to ensure prompt and effective implementation of that framework.
"This (summit) represents an unprecedented opportunity to maintain the momentum needed to introduce much-needed financial sector reforms," the Canadian prime minister said.
The summit will be another opportunity for Harper and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss bilateral issues.
It will be the first visit to Canada by any Indian prime minister in more than a decade. Inder Kumar Gujral was the last Indian prime minister to visit Canada during his short tenure in the 1990s.
