U.S. To Host G20 Summit in Pittsburgh
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
May 28, 2009
Excerpts from Press Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
MR. GIBBS: One quick announcement before we get started. The United States will host the next G20 summit, September 24th through the 25th, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....At the Pittsburgh summit, President Obama will meet with leaders representing 85 percent of the world's economy, take stock of the progress made since the Washington and London summits, and discuss further actions to assure a sound and sustainable recovery from the global economic and financial crisis.
Q Why Pittsburgh?
MR. GIBBS: At the conclusion of the meeting in London the group had to make a decision about where the next summit would be. Because a lot of people will be in our country for the U.N. General Assembly meeting, the President offered to host the next meeting; the group agreed with that, and we identified Pittsburgh as a good place to do that.
Q Why?
MR. GIBBS: I think it's an area that has seen its share of economic woes in the past but because of foresight and investment is now renewed -- giving birth to renewed industries that are creating the jobs of the future. And I think the President believes it would be a good place to highlight some of that.
Q Isn't it unusual to have two meetings in here?
MR. GIBBS: For the G20? This is -- they were going to do this at some point in the next -- after London, so it's not --it's on the regular schedule of things.
