Currency war and a US proposal for a cap on current account deficit have threatened to shadow deliberations at the G-20 Summit in Seoul on Thursday that has on its agenda issues like development and rebalancing global economic growth especially in trade and capital inflows.Negotiators are working hard on the eve of the summit to bring out a joint communique that will have on board concerns of countries like India, whose delegation is headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for a consensus on long term issues like development and a 'mutual assessment process' in which the need is felt for coordination on policy for example in fiscal stimulus being undertaken in some countries.
Apart from Singh, US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canandian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend the summit to be chaired by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
The leaders will meet at a welcome reception this evening and will participate in the plenary sessions tomorrow. India attaches significance to the Seoul Summit, which is the first meeting of G-20 in a non-G-8 country
and that too in Asia in a country that has recently emerged as an industrialised country.
US President Barack Obama's letter to G-20 leaders to stand against economic protectionism and Federal Reserve's decision to pump in $600 billion into the US economy seeking higher yields is expected to push up the value of the dollar against Washington's own complaints against China of undervaluing Yuan.
These issues have already generated so much heat in the discussions going on the eve of the Summit that some feel that the host South Korea's focus on development agenda could be derailed.
With serious trouble in its backyard, the US is trying hard to shore up its economy saying growth there can be good for others.
But countries like Germany are critical of the dollar policy while China has strongly resisted US push for right valuing the Yuan that gives China advantage in global exports.
