US to host finance crisis summit in Washington

WASHINGTON: The White House said Friday it will host the November 15 global financial crisis summit at the National Building Museum in Washington and named three top aides to shape the US agenda for the talks.

They are Dan Price, US President George W. Bush'sassistant for international economic affairs; Rubin Jeffery, US undersecretary of state for economic, business, and agricultural affairs; and David McCormick, undersecretary of treasure for international affairs, said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"They will be helping to define the agenda and then incorporate ideas and recommendations from their international counterparts and then work on consensus regarding the principles for reform that, then, the task force will take back and work on individually," she told reporters.

Perino also broke the US silence on the venue for the talks, which aim to lay out rules for a future overhaul of international financial regulations, announcing that the summit's home will be the National Building Museum in the city center.

She declined to say whether all of the leaders of the Group of 20 richest nations and biggest emerging economies had accepted Bush's invitation to the emergency talks.

The august red-brick museum, a frequent site for high-profile political and social events in the US capital because of its massive central grand hall, was built in the 1880s as a fireproof home for the Pension Bureau.

Exhibitions have included the art of drawing architecture, visions for affordable housing, and contemporary ideas for building sustainable homes, according to the museum site.