Brussels, 16/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - Meeting Rome on 13 and 14 February 2009 at a meeting facilitated by Giulio Tremonti of Italy, the finance ministers and central bankers of G7 countries (Germany, Canada, the United States, Italy, France, Japan and the United Kingdom) rejected the use of protectionism to tackle the crisis, committing themselves to act together to support growth and job creation and strengthen the financial industry. The joint statement published at the meeting says that stabilising the global economy and financial markets is the G7's greatest priority and G7 countries have collectively taken exceptional measures to combat the serious economic slowdown in the world. Faced with a crisis that will last throughout most of 2009, the G7 financiers reaffirmed their pledge to avoid protectionist measures that would make the slowdown worse, and promised not to erect new trade barriers. They repeated their call for the Doha Trade Round to be concluded. Under fire from their partners over the United States' 'Buy American' campaign initially considered in President Obama's recovery plan, and France's recent plan to support the French car industry, the two countries sought to reassure their partners. On Sunday, French finance minister Christine Lagarde said that the French plan for the car industry was open to any player needing this type of funding and did not come with strings attached that might lead to protectionism. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner stressed the 'common imperative' of ensuring an open trading system. The Rome G7 Finance meeting to prepare for the G20 Summit in London on 2 April 2009 also stressed the need for urgent reform of the global financial set-up and the 'crucial' role of the IMF. The ministers instructed their departments to prepare a report in the next four months on developing a common basket of principles and regulations governing the ownership, integrity and transparency of the business world and global finance. Tremonti mooted the idea of a 'legal benchmark' for these regulations. (E.H. trans fl)