SEOUL, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Highlights of press conferences given by leaders of the Group of 20 major economies on Friday after their two-day summit.
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U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
On G20: "The work that we do here is not always going to seem dramatic. It's not always going to be immediately world-changing. But step by step what we're doing is building stronger international mechanisms and institutions that will help stabilise the economy, ensure economic growth and reduce some tensions."
On China: "It (the yuan) is undervalued and China spends enormous amounts of value intervening in the market to keep it undervalued. So we've said it is important for China, in a gradual fashion, to transition to a market-based foreign exchange system."
On tax policy: "I am going to meet with both the Republican and Democratic leaders late next week and we are going to discuss how we move forward. My number one priority is making sure that we make the middle class tax cuts permanent. I don't want to see their income taxes spike up, not only because they need relief, after having gone through a horrendous recession, but also because it would be bad for the economy."
Obama said he continues to believe keeping tax cuts for the rich "would be a mistake and we can't afford it".
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON
On China: "There is progress on this issue of imbalances, slowly, slowly China is moving into a position of actually increasing domestic consumption, rebalancing its economy."
On G20: "I always said it (the summit) wasn't going to be heroic, but I think it's good and steady progress."
JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER NAOTO KAN
"The financial crisis itself has passed its peak and the leaders shared the view that G20 must play its role in a new phase and collaborate in the process of recovery from the crisis."
CANADA PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER
"G20 credibility does depend on showing results ... we cannot get out of this with beggar-thy-neighbour policies. We need instead to continue to coordinate our actions going forward. The recovery is fragile. We continue to make progress on these issues."
SOUTH KOREA PRESIDENT LEE MYUNG-BAK
On capital controls: "Countries with reserve currencies may be able to print money, but the other countries maybe hurt when funds rush in. And so the G20 now allows countries to introduce macro prudential measures to mitigate the damage."
(Reporting by G20 team in Seoul)