Major economies pledge support for regime changes

[April 15, 2011]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The world's major economies are pledging to provide support for the regime changes that are occurring in the Middle East and North Africa. An Obama administration official is comparing what is happening to the fall of the Berlin Wall more than two decades ago.

The United States and France issued a joint statement after talks Thursday saying major nations stood ready with international lending institutions to provide economic support for the new governments in Egypt and Tunisia.

U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Lael Brainard wrote in an opinion piece that the transformations that were occurring in the region could be as successful in unlocking economic prosperity as events after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

[Associated Press; By MARTIN CRUTSINGER]

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