US Treasury chief Timothy Geithner called his European and Asian counterparts to discuss the deepening global economic crisis and need for reforms, his office said Friday January 30.

Geithner spoke to top French and German financial officials Friday and his Australian and Singaporean counterparts on Thursday. He talked with those from Britain and Russia a day earlier and Japan on Tuesday, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

“Throughout the week, Secretary Geithner has had a series of introductory telephone conversations with international finance ministers,” the statement said.

Geithner was scheduled to hold a meeting with Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke and other key officials Friday to discuss financial and regulatory reform as the United States reels from a deepening recession.

His talks with the foreign counterparts also came ahead of a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven industrialised nations in Rome next month.

With French Economy minister Christine Lagarde, Geithner spoke about France’s plans to build a new financial architecture and the progress of working groups on financial sector reforms of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations.

Geithner and German Finance minister Peer Steinbrueck discussed fiscal stimulus efforts in both countries and stressed the importance of close cooperation leading up to a G20 summit in April, the statement said.

Geithner and his Russian counterpart Alexei Kudrin “discussed the state of the global economy and their desire to work together and cooperate to find solutions to the current crisis,” it said.

Discussions with Singapore Finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam centreed on “the importance of action by governments around the world to boost demand and restore growth.”

The importance of unlocking credit markets was a key topic in the talks between the US Treasury chief and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling.

“They agreed that significant international action is necessary for global growth to regain its footing,” the statement said.

Britain will host the next G20 summit in London in April aimed to building a new global financial architecture in the face of the economic crisis.

The United States, which hosted the first G20 summit in November last year, has consistently rejected any global economic enforcer.

Washington was seen as having insisted at the November meeting that the G20 endorse national regulators over international ones.

US President Barack Obama is to attend the London meeting, with observers keen to see if he will change tack on the issue.

The G20, which groups the major industrialised powers as well as emerging giants Brazil, China, India and Russia, represents about 85% of world gross domestic product. (AFP)