India today expressed the hope that the summit of world leaders here would send the right signals by agreeing on a stimulus package to restore major economies back to normalcy so that the situation arising out of a global downturn does not deteriorate further.
It also feels that the first meeting of the G-20 leaders at the summit level would agree on the need for reforming the Brettonwoods institutions - World Bank and the IMF - and evolving a new financial architecture to take care of the needs of the developing and poor countries.
The action should be taken to mitigate the effects of the downturn and there should be no no resort to protectionist policies as a panacea, it argues.
After a dinner hosted by US President George W Bush for the world leaders here on the eve of the summit attended among others by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the idea of a stimulus package was before the leaders and if a coordinated fiscal stimulus package is arrived at the summit then that would be a substantial gain.
US President-elect Barack Obama, who is not not attending the summit, may not not be averse to it and it would not not be a problem for the new Administration, he told reporters.
He was replying to a query whether decisions that would come out of the meeting convened by a lame-duck President would be binding on the new government.
Ahluwalia, who is 'sherpa' of the Prime Minister in the discussions in the run-up to the summit, said the focus of the summit about a month ago was on the need for a new financial architecture but since then there has been a "deterioration" of the situation.