May 17, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

DEAUVILLE, May 16: US Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Friday he wanted to press fellow finance ministers from leading industrial nations to step up the pace of economic growth to deal with a soft global recovery.

“While we are taking steps in United States to try to create more growth, recognizing our growth rate of 1.6 per cent for the first quarter isn’t adequate, we also want to talk to our friends about the fact that their growth rates are not adequate,” Snow told reporters ahead of a weekend meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs.

Snow arrived in Deauville on Friday and was scheduled to participate in a day-long session on Saturday with fellow finance ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Germany and Japan.

He said the G7 faced “a serious issue” of week growth that potentially imperils the global economy.—Reuters