BUSAN, South Korea  The American Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, told his counterparts at a Group of 20 conference on Saturday that they should not rely on spending by American consumers for their economic recovery, and he urged Japan, Germany and China to bolster domestic demand.

“We discussed how the ongoing shift toward higher saving in the United States needs to be complemented by stronger domestic demand growth in Japan and in the European surplus countries, and by sustained growth in private demand,” Mr. Geithner said.

He spoke at the end of a two-day conference of finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 leading economies, who gathered to discuss ways of shoring up a fragile global recovery in the face of the European debt crisis.

At the same time, the participants also haggled over the thorny issue of reforming supervision of banks and other financial institutions to prevent a re-run of the 2008-9 recession.