G20 leaders push global economic reforms Friday

In the process, the Group of 20 countries decided they will serve as the board of directors on decisions for the global economy, taking over a role performed for more than three decades by a smaller group of wealthy nations.

US President Barack Obama initiated the move to transfer the responsibilities of economic coordination from the Group of Eight major developed countries -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Russia -- to the bigger G20.

The G20 also includes major emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India and underscores how much the world has changed since a small club of wealthy, industrial countries began meeting in the mid-1970s in an effort to respond to oil shocks, stagflation and other economic crises of that period.

The decision was to be announced Friday as Obama and the other leaders prepared a joint action plan to address regulatory overhaul and efforts to achieve more balanced growth.

The Pittsburgh meeting marked the third G20 leaders summit in less than a year as the countries continued to grapple with a debilitating downturn that has resulted in millions of unemployed around the world, the loss of trillions of dollars in wealth and massive amounts of government stimulus spending designed to jump-start economic growth.

With spreading signs that the worst of the downturn is over and many countries beginning to return to modest growth, the leaders were able to hold their discussions with less of a crisis atmosphere than their two previous meetings -- in November in Washington and in April in London.

But the lessening of the crisis raised concerns that the momentum to implement reforms could lessen as well, posing a threat G20 officials vowed to resist; Kazinform cites China Daily.

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