Europe is in for a long and sluggish road to recovery while the continent's economic outlook remains gloomy, that according to Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan as he addressed on Wednesday the Australian Lebanese Chamber of Commerce conference in Sydney.

Mr Swan said that the notion of an uncertain global outlook was further reinforced during the G20 summit in Toronto, which he attended, as he stressed that "Europe faces a long, slow grind towards recovery with near double-digit unemployment and a big deleveraging task still ahead."

He added that the ground situation in Europe is very bleak and by this time, the governments in that economic region "are now really starting to understand the magnitude of their challenges."

As for the Australian government, Mr Swan assured his audience that they are constantly watching the developments of these lingering downside economic risks as he gave reminder that the country is not free from the effects of global markets turbulence.

He is happy though that the Toronto meet showcased the country's remarkable recovery and places it by leagues ahead of almost all advanced economies, specifying that "while the G20 goal for advanced economies is to halve deficits by 2013, we are so far ahead of the game we are coming back to surplus in 2013."

Mr Swan emphasised the importance of Australia's gained headway citing that its significance could be more appreciated once the uncertain international economic environment is closely scrutinised by critics of the government's economic policy.

He reminded his businessmen audience that at this time, the country is on the perch of the fastest growing region in the world as he underscored that this happened amidst the global recovery's sailing through rough seas.