Author: Takatoshi Ito.

The G20 includes more Asian countries than any other global grouping, and it is expected to be a good forum for Asian countries to press their agenda. The G20 Summit was created out of the chaos of the global financial crisis. After Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008, global financial markets went into a tailspin. Securities markets were frozen as buyers disappeared. European governments, and the United States, had to de facto nationalise large, systemically- important financial institutions. The G20 is now regarded as the ‘steering committee’ of the world economy, replacing the G8. It was first created as the finance ministers and central bank Governors’ meeting in 1999, in the aftermath of the Asian crisis; hence the increased Asian participation.