This post was written by Hatchet reporter Zunara Naeem.

World economic leaders weighed in on recovery prospects for the global economy Thursday at a CNN-moderated debate in Lisner Auditorium.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, joined panelists from the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of Mexico, Bank of Negara Malaysia and Eurogroup in the debate, which was moderated by CNN’s Richard Quest. The event was part of the nearly week-long summit co-hosted by the IMF and the World Bank this week, and many talks took place on GW’s campus.

Quest said a new IMF report had an “uncheerful” outlook for countries recovering from the recession.

Here are some key takeaways from the discussion:

1. Positive signs for recovery

Steve Fischer, vice chair of the Federal Reserve, said the global economy is in a state of “fragility,” but he said there was some optimism as the U.S. and Europe have seen improvements.

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 5.9 percent in September, the lowest rate since 2008, Fischer said.

Jereon Dijsselbloem, the Netherlands’ minister of finance and Eurogroup president, said many European countries are also experiencing economic growth – and can continue to improve with the right guidance.

“We don’t need to be too gloomy if we know what to do,” Dijsselbloem said. “A number of measures have yet to take effect. We need to continue the consolidation path in a growth-friendly manner.”

2. Growing and emerging markets

The topic of growth dominated the debate. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, said stronger systems in developing countries would help their economies expand.

Emerging markets would be “better able to handle volatility due to the development of stronger financial systems,” Aziz said.

Agustin Carstens, governor of the Bank of Mexico, said nations also need structural reforms and the ability to generate their own economic activity.

“If the U.S. is experiencing growth at a certain rate, other smaller economies will be growing at smaller rates. We need to find new ways to engineer growth internally,” he said.

3. Calling for reform

Quest asked the panelists whether policies currently in place are enough to help struggling economies. Lagarde argued that political leaders needed to be more involved in constructing and maintaining economic reforms.

She said all world leaders should aim to grow the global economy by 2 percent over the next two years. But she added that all reforms cannot be applied to all countries in the same way.

“We see more and more that despite being interconnected, these solutions are not one-size-fit-all. You have to be really detailed,” Lagarde said.