G20 Summit 2013 took Place in St. Petersburg, Russia

The G20 Leaders' Summit took place in St.Petersburg on 5-6 September 2013 presided by Russia. The G20 nations discussed ways to ensure economic growth and financial stability, create jobs and combat unemployment, stimulate investment and promote multilateral trade, international development and anti-corruption. The members of the Group of Twenty (G-20) are: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Great Britain, Germany, European Union, India, Indonesia, Italy, Canada, China, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, USA, Turkey, France, South Africa, Republic of Korea, and Japan. The presidency of the G20 rotates annually among its members.

The G20 Leaders took notice of the final recommendations that the Business 20, Civil 20, Labour 20, Think 20 and Youth 20. To continue and expand dialogue, the G20 Leaders met with the representatives of business community and trade unions on the sidelines of the Summit.

A number of round table discussions were held in the Summit's International Media Centre (IMC), including: Experts' vision of the significance of the G20, G8 and BRICS for Russia; Issues of Development of the Global and Russian Economy on the G20 Agenda; G20 Initiatives to Reform the International Monetary System and Financial Regulation: Problems and Solutions; Fighting unemployment and creating jobs - a universal goal for the G20 countries; and The G20 Efforts on Fighting Protectionism and Trade Barriers. The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for international cooperation on the most important issues of the global economic and financial agenda.

The objectives of the G20 refer to:
1. Policy coordination between its members in order to achieve global economic stability, sustainable growth;
2. Promoting financial regulations that reduce risks and prevent future financial crises;
3. Modernizing international financial architecture.

The G20 brings together finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America plus the European Union, which is represented by the President of the European Council and by Head of the European Central Bank.

The G20 was formally established in September 1999 when finance ministers and central bank governors of seven major industrial countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) met in Washington, D.C. in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 1997-1998, which revealed the vulnerability of the international financial system in context of economic globalization and showed that key developing countries were insufficiently involved in discussions and decisions concerning global economic issues.

Finance ministers and central bank governors started to hold annual meetings after the inaugural meeting on December 15-16, 1999, in Berlin.
The first meeting of the G20 Leaders took place in Washington, D.C., on November 14-15, 2008, where the Leaders agreed to an action plan to stabilize the global economy and prevent future crises.

At the Leaders' level, Mexico was the second episode, following the Republic of Korea, that an emerging country held the Presidency of the Group.
G20 members represent almost:
1. 90% of global GDP.
2. 80% of international global-trade.
3. 2/3 of the world's population lives in G20 member countries.
4. 84% of all fossil fuel emissions are produced by G20 countries.

At their first meeting in Washington, the G20 Leaders achieved general agreement amongst the G20 on how to cooperate in key areas so as to strengthen economic growth, deal with the financial crisis and agreed upon three key objectives:
- restoring global economic growth;
- strengthening the international financial system;
- reforming international financial institutions.