Emerging economies must play a bigger part in unravelling global economic and trade imbalances that have helped create the financial crisis, according to Stephen Harper, Canada’s prime minister.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, Mr Harper expressed the hope that if participants at the G20 summit in London discuss these imbalances, “it isn’t just about the desire or the ‘right’ of emerging economies to play a bigger role according to their growing power, but also [about] their responsibilities”.