(WASHINGTON) - US President George W. Bush will welcome French President Nicolas Sarkozy and EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to Camp David on Saturday for global crisis talks, the White House said Tuesday.

"They will have a chance to talk about a number of issues, but the global economy will obviously be something they focus on," during a meeting and a dinner at the presidential retreat, spokesman Gordon Johndroe told AFP.

Sarkozy and Barroso had already planned to be in Canada late this week for a number of meetings, including the EU-Canada summit, the spokesman noted.

Bush spoke to the French president, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier on Tuesday as part of efforts to ensure a coordinated global response to the economic crisis.

On Monday, the US president hosted Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for talks focused on the meltdown.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush was still open to Sarkozy's call for a special summit of leaders from the Group of Seven rich countries, but that the international community was focused on immediate, urgent action.

"No-one ever said it's off the table, but we don't have a definitive date. I think that in the future, we'll see if we can pull something together like that," she told reporters.

"Right now everybody's been very focused on the immediate issues at hand," she said. "The president remains open to meeting at a head of state level."

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.