WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (AFP) - Top finance officials of the Group of Seven industrial powers opened talks in Washington, expected to focus on issues such as oil prices, China's currency, Iraq and the debt crisis of the world's poorest countries.
A luncheon meeting opened at 1700 GMT among the finance ministers and central bankers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States at the US Treasury offices.
The G7 meetings precede gatherings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank policymakers.
Chinese officials were expected to join the G7 for the first time, later in the day, in recognition of the growing economic clout of Beijing. G7 officials were expected to press China for a more flexible currency to help ease global trade imbalances.
The talks opened amid predictions of the best global economic growth in three decades, but concerns that this could be crimped by the surge in crude oil to record high levels.
The G7 also was expected to consider proposals to ease Iraq's debt to help the new interim government, and to boost debt relief to the world's poorest countries.