G20

"G20" redirects here. For other uses, see G20 (disambiguation)

Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

Member countries in the G-20   Members of the European Union not individually represented
Abbreviation	G-20 or G20
Formation	1999 2008 (Heads of State Summits)
Purpose	Bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.
Membership	20 Argentina Australia Brazil Canada China European Union France Germany India Indonesia Italy Japan Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa South Korea Turkey United Kingdom United States
Current chair	Russia (2013)
Staff	None
Website	www.g20.org

The Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (also known as the G-20, G20, and Group of Twenty) is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies: 19 countries plus the European Union, which is represented by the President of the European Council and by the European Central Bank. The G-20 heads of government or heads of state have also periodically conferred at summits since their initial meeting in 2008. Collectively, the G-20 economies account for more than 80 percent of the gross world product (GWP), 80 percent of world trade (including EU intra-trade), and two-thirds of the world population. They furthermore account for 84.1 percent and 82.2 percent of the world's economic growth by nominal GDP and GDP (PPP) respectively from the years 2010 to 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The G-20 was proposed by former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin as a forum for cooperation and consultation on matters pertaining to the international financial system. The group was formally inaugurated in September 1999, and held its first meeting in December 1999. It studies, reviews, and promotes high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability, and seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization. With the G-20 growing in stature after the 2008 Washington summit, its leaders announced on September 25, 2009, that the group would replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations.

The heads of the G-20 nations met biannually at G-20 summits between 2008 and 2011. Since the November 2011 Cannes summit, all G-20 summits have been held annually.

History

A group photo of the participants of the 2008 G-20 Washington summit.

2009 G-20 London summit group photo.

2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit group photo.

2010 G-20 Toronto summit group photo.

2010 G-20 Seoul summit group photo.

2011 G-20 Cannes summit group photo.

2012 G-20 Mexico summit group photo.

The G-20, which superseded the G33 (which had itself superseded the G22), was foreshadowed at the Cologne Summit of the G7 in June 1999, but was only formally established at the G7 Finance Ministers' meeting on 26 September 1999. The inaugural meeting took place on 15–16 December 1999 in Berlin. In 2008, Spain and the Netherlands were included, by French invitation, in the G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy.

The theme of the 2006 G-20 meeting was “Building and Sustaining Prosperity”. The issues discussed included domestic reforms to achieve “sustained growth”, global energy and resource commodity markets, ‘reform’ of the World Bank and IMF, and the impact of demographic changes due to an aging population. Trevor A. Manuel, the South African Minister of Finance, was the chairperson of the G-20 when South Africa hosted the Secretariat in 2007. Guido Mantega, Brazil's Minister of Finance, was the chairperson of the G-20 in 2008; Brazil proposed dialogue on competition in financial markets, clean energy and economic development and fiscal elements of growth and development. In a statement following a meeting of G7 finance ministers on 11 October 2008, US President George W. Bush stated that the next meeting of the G-20 would be important in finding solutions to the burgeoning economic crisis of 2008. An initiative by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown led to a special meeting of the G-20, a G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy, on 15 November 2008.

Despite lacking any formal ability to enforce rules, the G-20's prominent membership gives it a strong input on global policy. However, there remain disputes over the legitimacy of the G-20, and criticisms of its organisation and the efficacy of its declarations.

Summits

See also: List of G-20 summits

The G-20 Summit was created as a response both to the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and to a growing recognition that key emerging countries were not adequately included in the core of global economic discussion and governance. The G-20 Summits of heads of state or government were held in addition to the G-20 Meetings of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, who continued to meet to prepare the leaders' summit and implement their decisions. After the debut summit in Washington, D.C. during 2008, G-20 leaders met twice a year in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, Toronto and Seoul in 2010.

Since 2011, when France chaired and hosted the G-20, the summits have been held only once a year. Mexico chaired and hosted the leaders' summit in 2012. Future summits will be held in Russia in 2013, Australia in 2014 and Turkey in 2015.

	Date	Host country	Host city	Website
1st	November 2008	United States	Washington, D.C.
2nd	April 2009	United Kingdom	London	[1]
3rd	September 2009	United States	Pittsburgh	[2]
4th	June 2010	Canada	Toronto	[3]
5th	November 2010	South Korea	Seoul	[4]
6th	November 2011	France	Cannes	[5]
7th	June 2012	Mexico	Los Cabos	[6]
8th	September 2013	Russia	Saint Petersburg	[7]
9th	November 2014	Australia	Brisbane
10th	2015	Turkey	TBA

G-20 leaders' chair rotation

To decide which nation gets to chair the G-20 leaders' meeting for a given year, all 19 nations are assigned to one of five different groupings. Each group holds a maximum of four nations. This system has been in place since 2010, when South Korea, which is in Group 5, held the G-20 chair. Mexico, the host of the 2012 summit, is in Group 3. In 2013, Russia, which is in Group 2, will host the G-20 leaders' summit. Australia, the host of the 2014 G-20 summit, is in Group 1. The table below lists the nations' groupings:

Group	Nations	Group	Nations	Group	Nations	Group	Nations	Group	Nations
Group 1	Australia	Group 2	India	Group 3	Argentina	Group 4	France	Group 5	China
	Canada		Russia		Brazil		Germany		Indonesia
	Saudi Arabia		South Africa		Mexico		Italy		Japan
	United States		Turkey		—		United Kingdom		South Korea

Organization

The G-20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The chair rotates annually among the members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries. The chair is part of a revolving three-member management group of past, present and future chairs referred to as the Troika. The incumbent chair establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration of its term, which coordinates the group's work and organizes its meetings. The role of the Troika is to ensure continuity in the G-20's work and management across host years. The current chair of the G-20 is Russia; the chair was handed over from Mexico after the June 2012 G-20 Summit.

Proposed permanent secretariat

In 2010, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy proposed the establishment of a permanent G-20 secretariat, similar to the United Nations. Seoul and Paris were suggested as possible locations for its headquarters. China and Brazil supported the establishment of a secretariat, while Italy expressed opposition to the proposal. South Korea proposed a "cyber secretariat" as an alternative.

List of members

As of 2012, there are 20 members of the G-20. These include, at the leaders summits, the leaders of 19 countries and of the European Union, and, at the ministerial-level meetings, the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries and of the European Union. In addition, the Netherlands has taken part in the first four G-20 heads of state meetings, while Spain has participated in every meeting so far, despite neither country being formally recognized members. The tables below list the member entities and their leaders, finance ministers and central bank governors, as well as listing relevant statistics such as population and GDP figures. Total GDP figures are given in millions of US dollars.

Leaders

Region	Member	Official title	Current leader	Official title	Current finance minister	Central bank governor
Africa	South Africa	President	Jacob Zuma	Minister of Finance	Pravin Gordhan	Gill Marcus
North America	United States	President	Barack Obama	Secretary of the Treasury	Timothy Geithner	Ben Bernanke
North America	Canada	Prime Minister	Stephen Harper	Minister of Finance	Jim Flaherty	Mark Carney
North America	Mexico	President	Enrique Peña Nieto	Secretary of Finance	Luis Videgaray Caso	Agustín Carstens
South America	Brazil	President	Dilma Rousseff	Minister of Finance	Guido Mantega	Alexandre Tombini
South America	Argentina	President	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner	Minister of Economy	Hernán Lorenzino	Mercedes Marcó del Pont
Asia	China	President	Hu Jintao	Minister of Finance	Xie Xuren	Zhou Xiaochuan
Asia	Japan	Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe	Minister of Finance	Taro Aso	Masaaki Shirakawa
Asia	South Korea	President	Lee Myung-bak	Minister of Strategy and Finance	Park Jae-wan	Kim Choong-soo
Asia	India	Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh	Minister of Finance	P. Chidambaram	Duvvuri Subbarao
Asia	Indonesia	President	Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono	Minister of Finance	Agus Martowardojo	Darmin Nasution
Eurasia	Russia	President	Vladimir Putin	Minister of Finance	Anton Siluanov	Sergey Mikhaylovich Ignatyev
Eurasia	Turkey	Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Minister of Finance	Mehmet Şimşek	Erdem Başçı
Europe	European Union	European Council President Commission President	Herman Van Rompuy José Manuel Durão Barroso	Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro	Olli Rehn	Mario Draghi
Europe	Germany	Chancellor	Angela Merkel	Minister of Finance	Wolfgang Schäuble	Jens Weidmann
Europe	France	President	François Hollande	Minister of the Economy, Industry and Employment	Pierre Moscovici	Christian Noyer
Europe	United Kingdom	Prime Minister	David Cameron	Chancellor of the Exchequer	George Osborne	Sir Mervyn King
Europe	Italy	President of the Council of Ministers	Mario Monti	Minister of Economy and Finance	Vittorio Grilli	Ignazio Visco
Middle East	Saudi Arabia	King	Abdullah	Minister of Finance	Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf	Muhammed Al-Jasser
Oceania	Australia	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	Treasurer	Wayne Swan	Glenn Stevens

Countries data

Region	Member	Trade mil. USD (2012)	Nominal GDP mil. USD (2012)	PPP GDP mil. USD (2012)	Nominal GDP per capita USD (2012)	PPP GDP per capita USD (2012)	HDI (2011)	Population	P5	G8	BRICS	MIKT	DAC	OECD	G4	UfC	OPEC
Africa	South Africa	208,000	390,919	578,640	7,636	11,302	0.619	49,320,500	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N
North America	United States	3,969,000	15,653,366	15,653,366	49,802	49,802	0.910	309,173,000	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	N	N
North America	Canada	962,600	1,770,084	1,445,532	50,826	41,506	0.908	34,088,000	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	N
North America	Mexico	756,800	1,162,891	1,757,580	10,123	15,300	0.770	112,211,789	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N
South America	Brazil	494,800	2,425,052	2,365,875	12,340	12,038	0.718	193,088,765	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y	N	N
South America	Argentina	152,690	474,812	746,927	11,572	18,205	0.797	40,117,096	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y	N
Asia	China	3,801,000	8,250,241	12,382,559	6,094	9,146	0.687	1,339,724,852	Y	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N
Asia	Japan	1,649,800	5,984,390	4,616,876	46,896	36,179	0.901	127,390,000	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N
Asia	South Korea	1,068,700	1,151,271	1,621,869	23,021	32,431	0.897	50,004,441	N	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N
Asia	India	809,400	1,946,000	4,710,807	1,592	3,851	0.547	1,210,193,422	N	N	Y	N	N	N	Y	N	N
Asia	Indonesia	384,100	894,854	1,211,961	3,797	4,957	0.617	237,556,363	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	N
Eurasia	Russia	900,600	1,953,555	2,511,708	13,765	17,697	0.755	143,100,000	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N
Eurasia	Turkey	370,800	783,064	1,125,419	10,457	15,028	0.699	72,561,312	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	N	Y	N
Europe	European Union	4,567,000	16,414,483	16,073,550	32,708	32,028	0.853	501,259,840	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Europe	Germany	2,768,000	3,366,651	3,194,199	41,168	39,058	0.905	81,757,600	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N
Europe	France	1,226,400	2,580,423	2,252,536	40,690	35,519	0.884	65,447,374	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	N	N
Europe	United Kingdom	1,127,000	2,433,779	2,316,246	38,591	36,727	0.863	62,041,708	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	N	N
Europe	Italy	953,000	1,980,448	1,833,945	32,522	30,116	0.874	60,325,805	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	N
Middle East	Saudi Arabia	518,300	657,049	740,526	22,823	25,722	0.770	27,123,977	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	Y
Oceania	Australia	522,000	1,542,055	960,722	67,983	42,354	0.929	22,328,632	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	N	N	N

In addition to these 20 members, the following forums and institutions, as represented by their respective chief executive officers, participate in meetings of the G-20:

• the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
• the Chairman of the International Monetary Fund
• the President of the World Bank
• the International Monetary and Financial Committee
• the Chairman of the Development Assistance Committee

Membership does not reflect exactly the 19 largest national economies of the world in any given year. The organization states:

In a forum such as the G-20, it is particularly important for the number of countries involved to be restricted and fixed to ensure the effectiveness and continuity of its activity. There are no formal criteria for G-20 membership and the composition of the group has remained unchanged since it was established. In view of the objectives of the G-20, it was considered important that countries and regions of systemic significance for the international financial system be included. Aspects such as geographical balance and population representation also played a major part.

All 19 member nations are among the top 28 economies as measured in GDP at nominal prices in a list published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2012. Not represented by membership in the G-20 are Switzerland (ranked 20th by the IMF), Norway (22), Iran (23), and Taiwan (27), even though they rank higher than some members. Spain (13), the Netherlands (18), Sweden (21), Belgium (24), Poland (26), and Austria (28) are included only as part of the EU, and not independently.

When the countries' GDP is measured at purchasing power parity (PPP) rates, all 19 members are among the top 25 in the world in October 2012, according to the IMF. Iran (17), Taiwan (19) and Thailand (24) are not G-20 members, while Spain (13), Poland (20) and the Netherlands (22) are only included in the EU slot. However, in a list of average GDP, calculated for the years since the group's creation (1999–2008) at both nominal and PPP rates, only Spain, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Poland appear above any G-20 member in both lists simultaneously.

Spain, being the 13th largest economy in the world and 5th in the European Union in terms of nominal GDP, is a 'permanent guest' of the organization, although the Spanish government's policy is to not request official membership. As such, a Spanish delegation has been invited to, and has attended, every G-20 heads of state summit since the G-20's inception.

Role of Asian countries

A 2011 report released by the Asian Development Bank predicted that large Asian economies such as China and India would play a more important role in global economic governance in the future. The report stated that the rise of emerging market economies heralded a new world order, in which the G-20 would become the global economic steering committee.

The report furthermore noted that Asian countries had led the global recovery following the late-2000s recession. It predicted that the region would have a greater presence on the global stage, shaping the G-20 agenda for balanced and sustainable growth through strengthening intraregional trade and stimulating domestic demand.

Invitees

Typically, several countries that are not permanent members of the G-20 are extended invitations to participate in the summits. The invitees are chosen by the host country. For the 2010 summits, for example, both Canada and South Korea invited Ethiopia (chair of NEPAD), Malawi (chair of the African Union), Vietnam (chair of ASEAN), and Spain. Canada also invited the Netherlands, while South Korea invited Singapore. Both Canada and South Korea invited seven international organizations: the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, and the Financial Stability Board.

Criticisms

Exclusivity of membership

Although the G-20 has stated that the group's "economic weight and broad membership gives it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy and financial system," its legitimacy has been challenged. With respect to the membership issue, U.S. President Barack Obama has noted the difficulty of pleasing everyone: "everybody wants the smallest possible group that includes them. So, if they're the 21st largest nation in the world, they want the G-21, and think it's highly unfair if they have been cut out." A 2011 report for the Danish Institute for International Studies, entitled "The G-20 and Beyond: Towards Effective Global Economic Governance", criticised the G-20's exclusivity, highlighting in particular its under-representation of the African continent. Moreover, the report stated that the G-20's practice of inviting observers from non-member states is a mere "concession at the margins", and does not grant the organisation representational legitimacy.

Norwegian perspective

In a 2010 interview with Der Spiegel, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the G-20 "one of the greatest setbacks since World War II." Although Norway is the seventh-largest contributor to international development programs in the United Nations, it is not a member of the EU, and thus is not represented in the G-20 even indirectly. Norway, like the other 170 nations not among the G-20, has little or no voice within the group. Støre characterized the G-20 as a "self-appointed group", arguing that it undermines the legitimacy of organizations set up in the aftermath of World War II, such as the IMF, World Bank and United Nations:

The G-20 is a self-appointed group. Its composition is determined by the major countries and powers. It may be more representative than the G-7 or the G-8, in which only the richest countries are represented, but it is still arbitrary. We no longer live in the 19th century, a time when the major powers met and redrew the map of the world. No one needs a new Congress of Vienna.

— 

Global Governance Group (3G) response

According to Singapore's representative to the United Nations, UN members who are not G-20 members have responded to the G-20's exclusivity by either reacting with indifference, refusing to acknowledge the G-20's legitimacy, or accepting the G-20's status while hoping to "engage the G-20 as the latter continues to evolve so that [their] interests are taken on board." Out of this latter group, Singapore has taken a leading role in organizing an informal "Global Governance Group" of 28 non-G-20 countries, seeking to collectively channel their views into the G-20 process more effectively. Singapore's chairing of the Global Governance Group was cited as a rationale for inviting Singapore to the November 2010 G-20 summit in South Korea.

Foreign Policy critiques

The American magazine Foreign Policy has published articles condemning the G-20, in terms of its principal function as an alternative to the so-called exclusive G8. It questions the actions of some of the G-20 members, and advances the notion that some nations should not have membership in the first place. For example, it has suggested that Argentina should be formally replaced with Spain, because Spain's economy is larger. Furthermore, with the effects of the Great Recession still ongoing, the magazine has criticized the G-20's efforts to implement reforms of the world's financial institutions, branding such efforts as failed.

On 14 June 2012, an essay published by the National Taxpayers Union was forwarded to Foreign Policy, espousing a critical view of the application of G-20 membership. The essay's authors, Alex Brill and James K. Glassman, used a numerical table with seven criteria to conclude that Indonesia, Argentina, Russia and Mexico do not qualify for G-20 membership, and that Switzerland, Singapore, Norway and Malaysia had overtaken some of the current members. However, the gap between current members Mexico and Russia and the lower-ranked entries in the authors' list (Malaysia and Saudi Arabia) was only slight. Thus, it was concluded that there is no obvious group of twenty nations that should be included in the G20, and that fair and transparent metrics are essential, as they justify the difficult decisions that will be required in order to differentiate among similarly situated countries.

Wider concerns

The G-20's transparency and accountability have been questioned by critics, who call attention to the absence of a formal charter and the fact that the most important G-20 meetings are closed-door. In 2001, the economist Frances Stewart proposed an Economic Security Council within the United Nations as an alternative to the G-20. In such a council, members would be elected by the General Assembly based on their importance in the world economy, and the contribution they are willing to provide to world economic development.

The cost and extent of summit-related security is often a contentious issue in the hosting country, and G-20 summits have attracted protesters from a variety of backgrounds, including information activists, nationalists, and opponents of Fractional Reserve Banking and crony capitalism. In 2010, the Toronto G-20 summit sparked mass protests and rioting, leading to the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.

See also

• BRICS
• Global Governance, an academic journal on international relations
• Great power
• List of G-20 summits
• MIKT
• Regional power

Further reading

• Haas, P.M. (1992). "Introduction. Epistemic communities and international policy coordination," International Organization 46,1:1–35.
• Hajnal, Peter I. (1999). The G8 system and the G20 : Evolution, Role and Documentation. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing. 13-ISBN 978-0-7546-4550-4/10-ISBN 0-7546-4550-9; OCLC 277231920
• Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations. London: Routledge. 10-ISBN 0-415-16486-9/13-ISBN 978-0-415-16486-3; 13-ISBN 978-0-203-45085-7;10-ISBN 0-203-45085-X; OCLC 39013643
• Augusto Lopez-Claros, Augusto, Richard Samans and Marc Uzan. (2007). The international monetary system and the IMF, and the G-20 : a great transformation in the making? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 10-ISBN 0-230-52495-8/13-ISBN 978-0-230-52495-8; OCLC 255621756
• Danish Institute for International Studies (2011). The G-20 and beyond: towards effective global economic governance. Copenhagen, Denmark: Jakob Vestergaard.

External links

• Official G-20 website (English version), also available in Russian
• G-20 Seoul Summit 2010
• G-20 Information Centre from the University of Toronto
• A Guide To Committees, Groups, And Clubs from the International Monetary Fund
• G-20 Special Report from The Guardian
• IPS News – G-20 Special Report
• The G-20's role in the post-crisis world by FRIDE
• The Group of Twenty—A History, 2007
• Economics for Everyone: G20 – Gearing for Growth