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Greece, pressing for curbs on financial speculation it blames for worsening the country's debt crisis, said Tuesday the idea would be examined by the G-20 leading powers at their next meeting.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou told reporters after a meeting with President Barack Obama that the U.S. leader had been encouraging on Athens' effort to restrict speculators but stopped short of saying Washington would embrace this push.
"We have found a positive response from President Obama, which means that this issue will be on the agenda in the next G20 meeting," Papandreou said after the White House meeting.
"We ourselves were in the last few months the victims of speculators. Obama assured me that he considers the initiative useful, important, positive and that the United States will contribute in this direction," he added.
Canada hosts the next summit of the Group of 20 in June, although G20 finance ministers will also be present in Washington for the Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
An Obama administration official had earlier offered a measured response to Greece's proposals, noting the United States was already working on a broad overhaul of U.S. financial regulation.
"The president's plan would require more transparent trading and central clearing for standardized derivatives," the official said.
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