Japan ready to cooperate in crisis summit

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is ready to cooperate in holding a world summit on the financial crisis on condition that a strong action plan on tackling the problem is issued, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said on Sunday.

U.S. and European leaders on Saturday proposed a series of world summits on the global financial crisis, with President George W. Bush to host the first gathering after the November presidential election.

"The prime minister acknowledges that the situation in the world is serious. Japan, as Group of Eight chair, needs to take leadership," Nakagawa said on Japanese television.

"If a summit were to be held, it should come up with a strong action plan or a decision that follows up on the Group of Seven and Group of 20 meetings. I think the prime minister is making preparations based on this understanding," he said.

Nakagawa later told reporters that participants of the summit should be expanded beyond G8 industrialised nations to include countries like Australia and New Zealand, according to Kyodo news agency.

A credit crisis that has swept the globe has pummelled markets, leaving the United States and its European allies searching for ways to cushion the shock to financial systems.

Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso agreed at a meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat to "reach out" to other world leaders next week about a series of summits on challenges facing the global economy.

Bush said he had discussed the summit with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and that both developed and developing nations would be represented at the meeting.

Japan has repeatedly said that any crisis summit should be held on condition that measures concrete enough to stem the crisis can be agreed upon.