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World economic powers meet as G20 in Mexico
The Group of 20 bloc of the world's greatest economic powers meets next week in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos, confronted once again by the eurozone's crippling debt crisis.
The Group of 20 bloc of the world's greatest economic powers meets next week in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos, confronted once again by the eurozone's crippling debt crisis.
Summit host President Felipe Calderon hoped to broaden the agenda to address global growth, but all eyes will be on elections in Greece, where voters have threatened to reject the terms of their bail-out package.
Here is a fact file on the G20 bloc:
* The G20 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States.
* The last chair is held by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank take part in G20 meetings. Spain and the Netherlands have also been regular participants.
* The G20 chair rotates between members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries each year. Russia will succeed Mexico.
* Between them, the G20 members account for around 85 percent of global economic output, 80 percent of world trade and two-thirds of the world's population.
* The group was founded in 1999 in response to the financial crises of the late 1990s in Asia and Russia to give emerging markets a larger voice. Its meetings were limited to finance ministers and central bank governors.
* In November 2008, then US president George W. Bush welcomed G20 leaders to the group's first summit in Washington to combat a global financial panic triggered by the collapse of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers.
* Since then, summits have been held in London, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Seoul and Cannes. World leaders promised on each occasion to work closely together to tackle global challenges, but failed to head off the current crisis.
