PARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday she wished to make consumer protection for financial products a major theme of France's year-long presidency of the Group of 20, a ministry statement said.
Lagarde will propose to a meeting of G20 finance ministers next week in Paris that a subsequent meeting in October should agree on common principles for protecting consumers in financial markets, according to the statement.
In conjunction with the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Lagarde will organise a conference on consumer protection to cooincide with October's G20 finance ministers' meeting, the statement said.
Next week's two-day meeting is due to discuss a shortlist of indicative guidelines for identifying global economic imbalances -- such as fiscal deficits, trade surpluses and capital account deficits.
It will also start discussion of French proposals for greater regulation of physical and derivatives markets for commodities, though this is not expected to gather momentum until later in the year, French officials say. (Reporting by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Ron Askew)