MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said on Friday that finance ministers of the G20 leading and emerging economies will meet in the Brazilian city of Sao Paolo early next month, ahead of a Washington summit.

On November 15, Washington will host an international summit on the global financial crisis, bringing together leaders from the world's top economies.

"G20 finance ministers will hold a meeting ahead of the Washington summit in the first half of November," Sergei Lavrov said.

Lavrov reiterated that Russia supports the idea proposed by French President Nicholas Sarkozy of holding an urgent summit of the world's leading economies to find ways of overcoming the global financial crisis.

At the World Policy Conference in Evian earlier this month, "Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed holding consultations to consider the alarming trends in global finance," he said.

The current global credit crunch started in the United States and quickly spread to Asia and Europe, leading to record losses on global financial markets and a liquidity shortage.

The minister said Russia is ready to coordinate its further steps with the leading developing economies, such as India and China, in various formats.