Group of Twenty

Established: September 25, 1999, at a Washington, D.C., session of the G-7 finance ministers. The Group of Twenty (G-20) consists of 19 larger-economy countries and the European Union, in addition to representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The group’s finance ministers and central bank governors began meeting in 1999, and since that time have met every fall. G-20 heads of state or government began meeting in November 2008 (see below) and this elevation of status seems to represent the G-20’s future.

Purpose: “A new mechanism for informal dialogue in the framework of the Bretton Woods institutional system, to broaden the dialogue on key economic and financial policy issues among systemically significant economies and to promote cooperation to achieve stable and sustainable world ...