Geithner, who arrived in Rome after a week of widespread criticism for botching the rollout of the administration's new bank bailout plan, got a boost with Friday's passage of President Barack Obama's $787 billion plan to resuscitate the economy.
But new economic data out Friday in Europe showed the continent's recession deepening, lending urgency to the ministers' task.
The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with their central bankers, are looking for agreement on common approaches to the crisis, with the United States pushing for a bold approach to match its stimulus package. The final communique is also expected to carry a strong warning against protectionism.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick, who is attending the meeting with other leaders of international financial organizations, told a meeting of the Italian banker's association Friday that any effort to keep bailout money at home would only worsen the global crisis, not resolve it.
"In this moment economic nationalism is neither economic nor nationalistic ... what might be politically correct might be economically incorrect," Zoellick said. "The pull of national politics is very sharp but it's clear that the issues we are dealing with don't stop at national borders."
Grim new economic data on Friday showed Europe's recession deepening. The German economy, Europe's engine, plunged by 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter in the sharpest downturn since the country reunified in 1990, and fellow Group of Seven members Italy and France also reported sharp downturns of 1.8 percent and 1.2 percent.
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told reporters that the decline had been in line with his expectations.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling was more blunt, calling the current troubles "the severest downturn in generations."
