The Group of 20 will say in its summit communique that the global economy is improving but it is too early to declare an end to crisis, a Russian official involved in its drafting said today.


"Compared to the start of the Russian presidency there has definitely been a shift in the assessment, and that is reflected in the leaders' communique," Andrei Bokarev, head of the Finance Ministry's international relations department, told Reuters.


"But it's definitely too early to say that the crisis has been overcome and that it will be easy from now on."


The summit debate on the health of the world economy, chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday evening, was "difficult" and reflected concerns about a growth slowdown in the developing world.


"The most difficult and time-consuming discussions related to the evaluation of the situation of global economy," Bokarev said in an interview on the sidelines of the two-day summit in St. Petersburg.


The prospect that the U.S. Federal Reserve may rein in its expansive monetary policies as soon as this month has vexed emerging economies that had enjoyed rapid growth thanks to a flood of cheap dollars into the world economy.


"The communique of course reflects that developed economies' share in global economic growth will be larger than that of emerging markets," Bokarev said.


"The communique states that developing economies are making a big contribution to global growth, but at the same time it is obvious there is a slowing trend."


Japan, China meet


Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands and exchanged words on the sidelines of a G20 summit on Thursday, the Japanese government said, in an unexpected show of cordiality.


Relations between the world's second- and third-largest economies have been troubled for months because of a row over tiny, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.


There are also disputes over the countries' wartime past.


Abe is keen to improve ties and has called for dialogue with China, though he has rejected any conditions on talks. China has shown no inclination to respond to the overtures.


"Even though it was a brief greeting, it means a lot. The Japanese and Chinese leaders directly exchanged words for the first time since taking office," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Friday.


In the contact shortly before G20 leaders began their main session, Abe told Xi that the two countries should advance bilateral ties by upholding the spirit of mutually beneficial, strategic relationship, Suga said, without elaborating.


Xi told Abe that China-Japan relations were facing grave difficulties and reiterated China's position that Japan should correctly deal with such sensitive issues by facing up to its history and seeking a way to properly manage differences and address the problems, China's Foreign Ministry said.