The Group of Twenty (G20) is an international forum made up of the world’s 20 leading economies.
It aims to “strengthen the resilience of the global financial system” and to ensure all financial markets are properly regulated and supervised so taxpayers never again have to foot the bill for bailing out financial service providers.
The group was founded in 1999, with the first meeting held in Berlin, Germany.
It was initially only attended by finance ministers and central bank governors. Since the financial crash 2008, world leaders have attended all annual summits.
The G20 has no permanent staff and the host nation changes each year on a rotational basis. Angela Merkel is chairing this year’s summit in Germany, with Argentina taking over in 2018.
Who are the G20 members?
The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The EU is represented at the meetings by the President of the European Commission, President of the European Council and the European Central Bank.
The G20 nations are:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- India
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- China
- South Africa
Spain also attends all G20 summits as a permanent guest.
South Africa is the only African member nation of the G20. At the ongoing 2017 summit at Hamburg, Germany, only Senegal (NEPAD) and Guinea (AU) have been invited as guests representing the African continent.
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