BEIJING -- French President Nicholas Sarkozy on Saturday called the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting very "helpful" for Asia and Europe to tackle the global financial crisis and build up common cause.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy speaks during the opening ceremony of the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing October 24, 2008. [Agencies]

During the two-day meeting, European and Asian leaders representing nearly half of the world population had had in-depth dialogues on all crucial topics including financial, monetary and economic issues, Sarkozy told a press conference here at the end of the meeting.

"We had discussed nearly all of the topics concerned by the two continents including the most difficult issues," he said.

Calling the summit "another great event" after the Beijing Olympic Games, he said it offered a new, important and sound opportunity to hear voices from Asia and Europe.

To tackle the current global financial crisis, Sarkozy said that China, India, the Republic of Korea and Indonesia would play a major part in the G20 summit slated for Nov. 15 in Washington.