John W. Snow
Secretary of the Treasury

Treasury Secretary John Snow hosted a meeting of the G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7 in Boca Raton, Florida at the Boca Raton Resort and Club.

A media release issued today said the G7 feel the global economic recovery has strengthened significantly since their September meeting in Dubai, and risks have diminished. They also noted that growth projections for 2004 have been revised upward to their highest in three years, in part due to fiscal and monetary policies.

Coming out of the 2-day meeting, a Progress Report was issued on the G7 Agenda for Growth (see links below).

To combat terrorist financing, G7 Ministers have asked all countries to strengthen their asset freezing regimes and to combat abuse of the informal financial sector and non-profit organizations. Additionally, they called on the IMF/World Bank to make permanent and comprehensive their assessments of countries’ efforts to combat terrorism financing. They said, *”We are committed to further enhance transparency and supervisory standards in financial markets, in particular non-compliant off-shore centres.”*

The release added that Ministers had discussed the progress in efforts to reform the international financial system, including improved surveillance, collective action clauses, limits on exceptional access, measuring results, and the use of other mechanisms, including grants, to avoid heavy debt burdens.