United States President George Bush will host the first in a proposed series of summits on the global financial crisis.
He confirmed the summit after meeting with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the European Commission head, Jose Manuel Barroso, at his Camp David retreat.
Speaking before the meeting Mr Bush said "it is essential that we work together because we are in this crisis together."
A joint statement after the meeting said the first summit would take place in the United States soon after the November 4 presidential election and focus on the "principles of reform" needed to fix the world's financial system.
"Later summits would be designed to implement agreement on specific steps to be taken to meet those principles," the statement said, adding that other world leaders would be contacted beginning next week.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the US and European leaders decided it would be too ambitious to handle all the issues in one summit.
Mr Bush stressed that the world leaders' summit should not seek to undercut the basic economic principles of international capitalism.
"We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world," he said.
Mr Sarkozy has called for an overhaul of the current international financial architecture established after World War 2 at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, and said the summit could be held before the end of November.
The French leader, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said the meeting would be a "great opportunity" to reassess how the world runs its financial affairs.
"Those who have led us to where we are today should not be allowed to do so once again," he said.
"This sort of capitalism is a betrayal of the sort of capitalism we believe in."
Mr Bush had earlier sought to reassure Americans saying the US government, which plans to inject $US250 billion in capital into US banks, had no intention of becoming a permanent shareholder in these institutions.
Prime Minister Helen Clark has not ruled out attending the summit, but says her immediate focus is managing the economy at home.
Miss Clark says she does not have a definite date for any meetings yet, but her focus for the moment is getting New Zealand through what she calls a 'slow, slow' time.
