Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa will attend a Monday meeting of the Group of Seven industrial nations in Washington to put forward his ideas to prevent a financial crisis in emerging market countries.
The G7 finance ministers and central bank governors are expected to discuss mainly the international financial architecture — including a new International Monetary Fund mechanism to cope with financial crises, the monitoring of hedge funds, and controlling of fund flows to and from emerging markets.
Other probable topics include debt-relief plans for heavily indebted poor countries, mostly in Africa. The prospect of Japan's stagnant economy — a concern for the rest of the world — should also be pegged for discussion.