G20 Kicks off in Pittsburgh, PA

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — Leaders of the world's main powers were on Thursday gathering in Pittsburgh promising tough action to police financial markets and prevent a new economic crash.

"In Pittsburgh, we will work with the world's largest economies to chart a course for growth that is balanced and sustained," US President Barack Obama told the United Nations on the eve of the G20 summit.

"And that means... strengthening regulation for all financial centers, so that we put an end to the greed, excess and abuse that led us into disaster, and prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again."

The two-day summit of the world's 19 biggest developed and emerging economies plus the European Union comes just over a year after a US credit collapse unleashed global economic chaos.

It also comes six months after the same G20 chiefs met in London to coordinate their response to the crisis, and their performance in Pittsburgh will be judged on whether they have lived up to their earlier promises.

Summit delegates all vow to take tough and lasting measures to bring order back to the markets, shore up failing institutions, save jobs and rekindle growth, but each arrives in Pittsburgh with their own priorities.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would push other nations to impose sanctions on uncooperative tax havens starting next year.  "Tax havens, banking secrecy, that's all over," he told French television. "I will fight for sanctions tomorrow in Pittsburgh."

Obama, hosting his first global summit, also sought to convince developing and developed nations to agree on a plan to phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industries that are blamed for global warming.