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MORELIA, Mexico -- Finance officials from 20 rich and poor nations were wrapping up a two-day meeting Monday aimed at rejuvenating the global economy, avoiding financial disasters and halting funding for terrorists.

U.S. officials also used the Group of 20 gathering in the mountains of western Mexico as an opportunity to urge countries to continue helping in the effort to rebuild Iraq and get global trade negotiations back on track.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow argued that free trade was key to helping economies grow. Many of the countries taking part in Monday's meeting were key players at the World Trade Organization meeting last month in Cancun, where talks failed in part because the WTO's 146 members could not agree on how to cut agricultural and other subsidies.

Snow was also lobbying nations to help in the effort to rebuild Iraq. He arrived at the meeting in Mexico from Madrid, Spain, where he and others persuaded nations to contribute at least $13 billion to postwar Iraq.

Although U.S. officials were still looking for more aid, Snow's spokesman Rob Nichols said the United States could meet Iraq's needs with oil revenues and help from the private sector.

On Sunday, Snow held private meetings with officials from Germany, China, Argentina, Russia and Mexico, among others.

He had said before the meeting that he planned to urge Chinese officials to move quickly to adopt a more flexible currency system. U.S. manufacturers complain that China's currency is undervalued, keeping exports unfairly cheap. During the meeting Sunday, ministers discussed ways to help the global economy fully recover.

Mexican Finance Minister Francisco Gil Diaz said the world was too dependent on growth in the U.S. economy, saying that that was one of several "vulnerabilities that should be overcome with the appropriate policies and measures." Roughly 75 percent of all Mexican exports are sent to the United States, and Mexico was hit hard by the U.S. recession.

Ministers also talked about the possibility of creating a so-called "code of conduct" that would put forth guidelines for countries on the verge of defaulting on debt.

Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, whose country defaulted on $95 billion in bonds in late 2001, welcomed the idea, but said the process should be more open, adding, "The No. 1 step is a code of transparency."

Member nations also reviewed progress they had made in shutting down funding for terrorists and looked for new ways to share intelligence.

"The circle will never be closed for criminals if international information sharing is not strengthened," Gil Diaz said. The Group of 20 is made up of the European Union and 19 countries -- Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Britain and the United States. Their economies account for about 80 percent of global income and their people make up more than 60 percent of the world's population.

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