Italy, France agree to hold emergency G7 meeting on debt crisis

Italy and France have agreed to call an emergency meeting of G7 finance ministers to discuss the debt crisis, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday after a telephone conversation with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Berlusconi told reporters that the meeting would be held "in a few days".

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also made phone calls to other European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy to discuss what measures should be undertaken to tackle the debt crisis.

"The situation is very difficult and requires coordinated action. We have to recognise that the world has entered a global financial crisis that concerns all countries," Berlusconi said after talks with other European leaders.

He said he would speak to US President Barack Obama later.

"Nothing that is happening can be blamed on any one government. It is something that concerns the global financial situation," he added.

"There is a very particular attention from international speculation on us that we must try to counter," Berlusconi.