Trevor Manuel, the South African Finance Minister met with Lord Stern, Director of the Asia Research Centre at London School of Economics, in Cape Town, South Africa. After their meeting they interviewed each other about their hopes and visions for the London Summit on 2 April.

Trevor Manuel said that no meeting of heads of state or finance ministers in recent history had been as vital for the future of the world economy as the London Summit. He said that financial and economic crisis had deteriorated markedly since the G20 Summit in Washington in November and its impacts were now 'coming to the fore' across Africa.

'Many countries are finding their economic circumstances a heck of a lot worse and it is vital that we can deal with these issues and record what is happening and prepare for collective action,' he said.

He said promises made in Washington to get a new global trade deal and avoid protectionism had 'gone awry' and called for measures to tackle the economic imbalances that had contributed to the crisis. This meeting in London is fundamentally important. No meeting of heads of state have been more important in recent history.'

Lord Stern said the crisis had presented the opportunity for a 'green stimulus' to help revive the global economy and 'lay the foundations' for low carbon growth. 'The main technologies that are going to drive that growth are low carbon growth. Let's take this opportunity of the simultaneous crises that we face – financial and economic on the one hand and planetary climate on the other – to act together and act strongly now.

He said that only international coordinated action could provide a way out of the crisis. 'The meeting of the heads of state of the G20 is so important because it gives us an opportunity to coordinate,' he said. 'It has to be done now, if we leave it another couple months the crisis will get even deeper.'