BALLADUR URGES G-7 TO RESPECT LOUVRE ACCORD
French Finance Minister Edouard Balladur
said the Group of Seven (G-7) industrial countries should
respect pledges on monetary policy made in the February Louvre
accord on currency stability.
    "We have to strengthen the cooperation between the seven
major industrial countries and remind ourselves of the pledges
we made at the Louvre," he told journalists.
    "They were not simply pledges to maintain currency
stability, but also to conduct a certain type of economic and
monetary policy," he added.
    Balladur's comments came after U.S. Treasury Secretary
James Baker said on Sunday that the U.S. Would have to
re-examine the Louvre accords in the light of the rise in West
German short-term interest rates.
    Balladur was one of the main architects of the Louvre
accord and has invested considerable political capital in
defending them.
 REUTER
