As the foreign ministers of the G20 group of the world's 20 leading economies met on Monday, host Mexico called on the international community to better manage crises and conflicts.

International institutions are often too clumsy and bureaucratic to be effective, Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said at the talks in Los Cabos, an exclusive resort town on the tip of the Baja peninsula in northwestern Mexico. She said the G20 meeting aimed to advance key issues without the pressure of making immediate decisions.

"There are many important issues that affect the lives of billions of people across the world at which the international community is failing to make any discernible progress," Espinosa said.

She added that the group was "uniquely positioned to bring about the leadership that the world currently craves," and could help in "transcending narrow national interests."

Preparations

Mexico, which currently chairs the G20, hoped the meeting could foster cooperation ahead of a full summit in Los Cabos on June 18-19 - and chose a deliberately informal setting.

Before heading into the talks, the world's top officials went on a whale-watching trip off the Pacific coast.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the outing was in keeping with the tone of the meeting.

"We all sat in one boat. It was the theme of this meeting," Westerwelle said.

The German foreign minister joined the talks at the end of an eight-day Latin American tour that took him to Panama, Peru and Brazil, a key trading partner for Germany.

Top-level partner

Westerwelle opened the German House of Science and Innovation (DWIH) in Sao Paulo, an initiative to promote the European power's status as a strategic partner for rapidly-growing Brazil.

It's the sixth DWIH around the world, with others in Tokyo, New York, Moscow, New Delhi and Cairo. These facilities are to represent German universities, research institutes and foundations abroad.

"Brazil is a shaping power that will have a word to say about the future world order - there's no getting past Brazil," Westerwelle said. Latin America, as a whole, the foreign minister said, was a "key focus" of German policy.

Later this week, finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 countries are to meet in Mexico City, where the European debt crisis is expected to be at the top of the agenda.

Author: Dagmar Breitenbach (dpa, AFP)
Editor: Gregg Benzow