EU warn Iraq uncertainty is damaging world economy

1. Exteriors French Finance Ministry, venue for meeting 2. Finance ministers coming out of building 3. Photo-op 4. Pan from right to left at meeting: GREECE - Nikos Christodoulakis, CANADA - John Manley, JAPAN - Masajuro Shiokawa, IMF - Horst Kohler, FRANCE - Francis Mer, GERMANY - Hans Eichel, USA - John Snow, UK - Gordon Brown, ITALY - Giulio Tremonti 5. Various of round table 6. Wide of press conference following meeting 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nikos Christodoulakis, Greek Finance Minister: "The political tensions and hostilities over Iraq lead to a rise in oil prices, adding to a negative environment. Our economies although they have not been deprived from their resilience, experience a worrisome slowdown." 8. Cutaway 9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Wim Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank: "Of course for the time being the high level of uncertainty remains a key concern for growth prospects and geopolitical tensions play a key role in this perspective. Further turbulence in the oil market would probably have a negative impact on the economic activities around the world and thereby also on the employment growth in the euro area. These concerns could adversely affect consumers' confidence and spending, thereby also preventing investment activities from recovering." 10. Cutaway 11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Wim Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank: "In the discussion we had in the G7, an unusually large emphasis was placed on the urgent needs of structural reforms in the individual countries and that was not only restricted to Europe or the euro area but to all the major economies in the world." 12. Wide shot press conference STORYLINE: The European Union on Saturday issued a stern warning to a gathering of top financial officials, saying uncertainty over war in Iraq has damaged the world economy. Greek Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said the finance meeting of the world's largest industrialised countries was taking place amid growing concern over the possible impact on international development. Christodoulakis was speaking at a news conference after addressing top finance officials from the Group of Seven largest industrialised nations, where officials were facing the challenge of how to energise a flagging global economy. Wim Duisenberg, president of the European Central Bank, gave a pessimistic assessment of growth in euro zone economies. Beyond broadly confirming their readiness to bolster currency and oil markets if necessary, the weekend meeting of finance ministers was thought unlikely to produce concrete plans for coping with the economic fallout of a war in Iraq. A draft of a statement the ministers were to release after their talks said that the world's largest economies were slowing more than expected but remain resilient, Dow Jones Newswires reported, quoting a source who saw the draft. Other officials were attending from Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and Russia. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7386a764cfdc9ae6067ddd9aa2af3609 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork