IQALUIT, Nunavut — Finance Minister Naoto Kan's first real exposure to the international arena was not in the dazzling lights of New York, London or Paris. It was in Iqaluit, a tiny town in the Canadian tundra, the name of which means "place of many fish" in Inuktitut.

Kan attended a two-day meeting of the Group of Seven developed nations through Saturday, not to talk about angling but to discuss how best to return the global economy to a self-sustained recovery path.

Kan, who became finance minister a month ago, has had little experience dealing with global financial issues in his long political career.