Speaking before a group of G20 countries in Washington D.C. during an emergency summit, outgoing President George W. Bush urged world leaders to pull together to get through the global economic crisis.

"One of the dangers during a crisis such as this is people will start implementing protectionist policies. There's some progress being made, but there's still a lot more work to be done," said Bush.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown echoed Bush's message, warning that leaders face a "difficult" set of negotiations:

"There are a lot of countries with their own interests and their own policy directions at the moment that will have to change," he said.

The meeting was called by President Bush amid mounting fears of job losses and business collapses around the world as the global economy continues to slump. Bush said that the focus of the summit would be "understanding" what went wrong, and "Identifying principles for reforming our financial and regulatory systems."

However, with the US top leadership now in a period of transition, many feel that little can be achieved at this time.

Barack Obama, who will not take over as President until 2009, is not present at the summit but has sent to representatives - ex-Congressman Jim Leach and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, said that the summit would mark only the start of a process, "a critical first step."

In the UK chancellor George Osborne claimed that Gordon Brown's decision to jump-start the economy through borrowing would lead to the collapse of the sterling, but in Washington Brown rejected the claim, saying that now was the time to "be responsible and to show leadership."