Summit for everyone: Brown and Sarkozy come out happy

It may not have ended with the global New Deal originally suggested by Gordon Brown - but you would have been hard pressed to realise it. The PM wrapped together a bunch of new commitments, including $750bn for the IMF and a $250bn boost for world trade, to reach an impressive one trillion dollar "stimulus".

On the other hand, neither did this summit end with a walkout by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who ended up heaping praise on Gordon Brown's leadership - albeit as another way of attacking President Obama.

Brown had been a joy to work with, said Sarkozy, and had not concentrated solely on the Anglo-Saxon priorities such as a stimulus which had pre-occupied Obama, he declared. He even reckoned he was "delighted" with the new regulatory system agreed at the summit.

So what did the summit end with? Primarily that $1.1 trillion dollars for the IMF and world bank, the naming and shaming of tax havens, the greater regulation of hedge funds and credit rating agencies, and controls on bankers' pay and bonuses - much of this seen as a victory for Sarkozy and Angela Merkel.

As ever, the devil will be in the small print of the communique and much of that will only become clear over coming days. Just how effective the package will be in helping revive the global economy, boost jobs and prevent any future recurrence of a banking meltdown will take even longer - months or even years.

Brown believes he has helped create a "new world order" and there is enough in it for all the other leaders to go along with this notion.

The fact that the FTSE closed four per cent up after the summit also suggested that there is a view that it ended as a success and maybe really could mark the beginning of the global fight-back.

The symbolism of the summit should not be overlooked. It was important for the leaders of countries representing the best part of 90 per cent of the world's economies to be seen to be working together, even if only to say "we're in this together".

Confidence, after all, is the name of the game. So, while much of this could have been done through more normal, and certainly cheaper, methods of diplomacy, that would not have sent out the all-important message of unity and common purpose.

There were some glitches along the way - even leaving aside some of Sarkozy's classic French brinkmanship (he even held his post-summit press conference while Brown's was still on).

The all-important 'family photo' had to be taken three times before they got it right. First time round, the shutter was pressed before someone spotted that the Canadian PM Stephen Harper had nipped to the gents.

Cue a re-shoot - only this time it was Italy's Silvio Berlusconi who had been mislaid. Third time proved lucky and they got the image they wanted - smiling leaders united in their desire to save the world.

THE MOLE: G20 SUMMIT

LAST UPDATED 5:35 PM, APRIL 2, 2009