Obama convenes fiscal responsibility summit

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has convened a summit on fiscal responsibility next week to discuss with independent experts, advocacy groups and members of the Congress how the trillion-dollar deficit can be cut.

"The President and the Vice-President will host the Fiscal Responsibility Summit at the White House and lead a frank discussion on how we can address the long-term fiscal problems facing this country," White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs told reporters during his daily press briefing.

About 130 people are invited to this summit on Monday. Prominent among them are Democratic and Republican leadership in the Congress, the chairs and ranking members of key committees, and a wide range of community leaders and stakeholders from business, academia, financial and the labour sectors.

"The summit is the first step in the process of beginning to lay out how we can bring down the deficit and put our economy back on sound financial footing," Gibbs said.

The summit would open with remarks by Vice-President Joe Biden. This would be followed by two presentations, one by economists and former advisor to Senator McCain, Mark Zandi and Robert Greenstein, the executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Obama would conclude the summit with his statement.