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Paulson says G7 crisis plan ‘aggressive’

WASHINGTON- US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday that the Group of Seven industrialized countries had agreed an "aggressive" plan to tackle the crisis roiling the global markets.

"We finalized an aggressive action plan to address the turmoil in global financial markets and the stresses on our financial institutions," Paulson said after G7 finance ministers and central bank heads met in Washington.

"This action plan provides a coherent framework that will direct our individual and collective policy steps to provide liquidity to markets, strengthen financial institutions, protect savers and enforce investor protections," he added in a statement.

There had been conflicting signals on how far officials would go towards establishing a common platform and a separate G7 statement on the meeting recommended no specific actions, sticking to broad objectives.

Paulson said "it is critical for governments to continue to take individual and collective actions to provide much-needed liquidity, strengthen financial institutions, enhance market stability, and develop a comprehensive regulatory response.

"We must continue to closely coordinate our actions and work within a common framework so that the action of one country does not come at the expense of others or the stability of the system as a whole."

The G7 groups the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.