A G-20 Primer

The third meeting of the G-20 heads of government takes place in Pittsburgh, PA on September 24-25, 2009.  The outgoing Bush Administration convened the first meeting of G-20 heads of state in Washington, DC in November 2008.  Since then, the G-20 is rapidly establishing itself as the leading international forum for coordinating national policies to limit the damage from the global economic crisis, and for recommending changes to the global financial architecture that will help to prevent a future crisis, or mitigate its effects.

This background note provides an overview of the G-20 as a heads-of-state meeting, reviews the outcome of the two recent G-20 meetings, and discusses the agenda for the Pittsburgh meeting and the expectations for what policy outcomes may be achieved there.

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