BRAZIL 7-9 November 2008 G-20 finance ministers, bank governors meet in testing year 

The finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of 20, an influential informal alliance of developing and industrialized countries that account for 85 per cent of the world economy, meet under Brazil's chairmanship at Costa Do Sauipe. During its one-year stint at the G-20 helm, Brazil aims to push for a more balanced and stable environment for global economic markets, a challenging goal in a year that shows signs of being marked by global economic turmoil.

G20 finance ministers met in the United States in October in response to the global economic crisis, and committed to "using all the economic and financial tools to assure the stability and well functioning of financial markets," according to a statement issued after the meeting. 

Lending its support to the resumption of Doha Round negotiations of the World Trade Organization, the G-20 issued six proposals on 17 Dec that clarifies its position on issues such as domestic support, export credits, sensitive products, tariff capping, tariff escalation and tariff simplification. The Round was launched in 2001, but agreement on trade in farm and industrial goods has proved to be elusive and the talks have stalled.

The G-20 brings together finance ministers and central bank governors from the European Union and from 19 countries that include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is an informal forum that promotes open and constructive discussion between industrial and emerging-market countries. UPDATED Oct/08

RELATED READING:

WTO talks to start, doubts on US subsidies (Business Standard 3 Jan 2008)
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=309558d"ftnm=3‚"Left=0&chkFlg=

G-20 web
http://www.g20.org/G20/