WASHINGTON, September 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - International financial leaders were set to convene for a second day Saturday, September 28, 2002, hoping to ramp up confidence as global stock markets in their shell-shocked economies plummet.

"Economic growth in our countries is continuing, though at a more moderate pace than earlier this year," the finance ministers and central bankers said in a one-page joint communiqué after a five-hour meeting in the U.S. capital.

"We recognize that risks remain," they said, but without identifying the worries or even assessing individual Group of Seven (G7) economies such as Japan, which is barely growing again after a decade-long stagnation.

Financial market turmoil, fears of a war with Iraq, a slower-than-expected global recovery and the economic collapse in Argentina provided the economic backdrop

to talks in the U.S. presidential guest residence of Blair House, situated directly across the street from the White House.

But the G7 policymakers, who met Friday behind massive security as anti-globalization activists protested outside, said they were committed to sound economic policies and structural reforms.

Protestors nearby at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings further voiced the opposition to the refusal to grant debt relief for poverty stricken nations.

They planned to work together to improve corporate disclosure, enhance accountability, and strengthen the independence of auditing.

The ministers and central bankers said they would monitor exchange rates closely "and cooperate as appropriate."

Outside the meeting, black-helmeted police in full riot gear clashed with demonstrators, arresting more than 600.

Surrounding streets were sealed off to traffic. European Central Bank president Wim Duisenberg, summing up the fears of many participants after a week during which Wall Street's Dow Jones index hit a four-year low, warned of the fallout from sliding shares.

"The significant decline of the equities market is having a negative impact on both investors and consumers' confidence," he told a news conference.

He conceded that fears of war in Iraq now presented a threat. "The uncertainty surrounding developments in the financial markets and labor markets and the geopolitical situation could pose a risk to domestic demand," Duisenberg warned.

"That uncertainty is also high due to the difficulty to foresee developments in the oil markets."

The policymakers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States met on the eve of weekend meetings of the 184-member International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Participating in the meeting were Japanese Minister of Finance Masajuro Shiokawa, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, Canadian Finance Minister John Manley, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill, German Minister of Finance Hans Eichel, and French Minister of Finance Francis Mer.

They agreed in the statement to support efforts to help crisis-stricken Argentina, but only after Buenos Aires won clearance of a sustainable economic program from the IMF.

The G7 also called for stepped-up efforts to fight terrorist financing, including moves to crack down on non-profit groups and "alternative" systems of money transfers.

In a one-year status report on the battle against the underground financing networks, they said more than 160 countries and jurisdictions had frozen 112 million dollars in terror-related assets worldwide.

Global economic output is projected to grow 3.7 percent in 2003, down from the IMF forecast in April of 4.0 percent growth, the IMF said in a semiannual report released in the run-up to the meetings.