WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary John Snow will attend his first meeting of top finance officials from the world's seven largest industrial countries this weekend in Paris, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday.
Treasury Department spokesman Rob Nichols said that Snow, who took office earlier this month, would stop first in London for discussions on Thursday with top finance officials in the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, a key supporter in the U.S. confrontation with Iraq.
Snow's discussions will include meetings with British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Sir Edward George, head of the Bank of England.
Snow will also visit a trading floor in London's financial district as well as well as hold meetings with top economists and British business leaders.
He will arrive in Paris on Friday where the meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents of the Group of Seven countries -- the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canda -- will begin with a dinner on Friday night and continue with further closed-door discussions on Saturday.
In addition to the formal G-7 talks, Snow will hold one-on-one discussions with each country over the two days in Paris, Nichols said.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is also scheduled to take part in the group's regular winter meeting, which was postponed from earlier this month to give Snow time to take office.
Snow, the former top executive of railroad freight giant CSX Corp., was picked by President Bush in early December to replace his first Treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, who was fired in a shake-up of the administration's economic team.
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