U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has named a bipartisan duo of Washington veterans to meet with foreign delegations at a global financial summit beginning Saturday in the U.S. capital.

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (file photo)

Officials say former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, and former Republican Congressman Jim Leach will represent Mr. Obama at the gathering of delegations from 20 countries. 

President-elect Obama is not attending the summit and will not meet with foreign dignitaries as he has not yet been inaugurated.  His aides have said that there is one president at a time in the United States. 

President George Bush called the summit of the world's richest nations and biggest emerging economies to seek ways to prevent future financial crises.

Mr. Obama, however, has been in touch with many foreign leaders who called to congratulate him on his election last week.  They included the leaders of Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico and South Korea. 

The president-elect has also spoken with Mwai Kibaki, the president of his late father's country, Kenya, as well as with Pope Benedict XVI. 

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.