As he sought to deflect European calls for more regulation, President Bush told world leaders flying into Washington yesterday for an emergency meeting that the global financial crisis did not signal the failure of the free market.

Speaking on Wall Street last night, he said: “Government intervention is not a cure-all. While reforms in the financial sector are essential, the solution to today's problems is sustained economic growth. The surest path to that growth is free markets and free people.”

His comments were a veiled warning to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who are pushing for a drastic restructuring of the world's financial regulatory systems.

Leaders representing the Group of 20 nations are due to gather in Washington for a working dinner this evening and formal meetings tomorrow to discuss reforms that could prevent a repeat of the global financial meltdown experienced over the last three months.

While this weekend's summit is not expected to produce dramatic actions, Mr Bush, who is hosting the meeting, has a list of topics that he wants the group to consider, including forcing banks to be more transparent in their accounts. The President is also proposing changes to the way that some complex securities are traded, and a reform of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

Other leaders have come with their own national agendas. Gordon Brown wants the IMF to create a special body of experts who would act as an early warning system for new financial crises. Arriving in New York for the summit, Mr Brown defended his own plans to cut taxes and told fellow leaders that “the cost of inaction will be far greater than the cost of any action”. He hopes to gain political cover for a package of tax cuts and public-spending increases by persuading other nations to match the giveaway at the meeting of the G20 group of nations. “It is now becoming increasingly accepted around the world that a temporary and affordable fiscal stimulus is necessary,” he said. “By acting now we can stimulate growth in all our economies.” He said that there was a “need for urgency”.

France is more preoccupied with plans to introduce cross-border regulations, which would allow them to control the operations of French banks such as Société Générale abroad. The Germans are pushing for very heavy regulation of hedge funds.

All leaders of the G20, however, are united by one factor - fear. During the last three months banks and insurers across the world have collapsed, governments and central banks have sought to cope by co-ordinating interest rate cuts and injecting billions into the global banking system to keep it afloat, and the world's biggest economies are now facing a prolonged period of severe economic recessions.

The UN Secretary-General gave warning that the financial crisis could trigger unrest and even war. In a letter to the G20 leaders, Ban Ki Moon also underlined the perils of protectionism. “The lesson of the 1930s is that a spiral of protectionism can deepen a recession,” he said.

The ghost at this weekend's feast is Barack Obama. He has declined an invitation to attend the summit, preferring to remain in Chicago where he is putting together policies and personnel for an administration that will take over on January 20.

According to British diplomats in Washington, Mr Brown believes that he is in broad agreement with the President-elect on the shape of international economic intervention.

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