Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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November 13, 2008

Obama Taps Bipartisan Team for Washington Summit
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1F54CB9:A6F02AD83191E1605FB51C04D60576AC98CBE7246176B735&
 
Officials say former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat,
and former Republican Congressman Jim Leach will represent
president-elect at gathering 
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has named a bipartisan duo of
Washington veterans to meet with foreign delegations at a global
financial summit beginning Saturday in the U.S. capital. Former US
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (file photo)Officials say former
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, and former Republican
Congressman Jim Leach will represent Mr. Obama at the gathering of
delegations from 20 countries. President-elect Obama is not attending
the summit and will not meet with foreign dignitaries as he has not yet
been inaugurated. His aides have said that there is one president at a
time in the United States. President George Bush called the summit of
the world's richest nations and biggest emerging economies to seek ways
to prevent future financial crises. Mr. Obama, however, has been in
touch with many foreign leaders who called to congratulate him on his
election last week. They included the leaders of Australia, Britain,
Canada, France!
 , Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico and South Korea. The president-elect
has also spoken with Mwai Kibaki, the president of his late father's
country, Kenya, as well as with Pope Benedict XVI.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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