Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors
Member countries in the G-20   Members of the European Union not individually represented
Abbreviation	G-20 or G20
Formation	1999 2008 (Heads of State Summits)
Purpose/focus	Bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.[1]
Membership	20  Argentina  Australia  Brazil  Canada  China  European Union  France  Germany  India  Indonesia  Italy  Japan  Mexico  Russia  Saudi Arabia  South Africa  South Korea  Turkey  United Kingdom  United States
Current chair	Mexico (2012)[2]
Staff	None[3]
Website	www.g20.org

The Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (also known as the G-20, G20, and Group of Twenty) is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies: 19 countries plus the European Union, which is represented by the President of the European Council and by the European Central Bank.^[3] Their heads of government or heads of state have also periodically conferred at summits since their initial meeting in 2008. Collectively, the G-20 economies account for more than 80 percent of the gross world product (GWP),^[4] 80 percent of world trade (including EU intra-trade), and two-thirds of the world population.^[3] They furthermore account for 84.1 percent and 82.2 percent of the world's economic growth by nominal GDP and GDP (PPP) respectively from the years 2010 to 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The G-20 was proposed by former Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin^[5] (later, Prime Minister) for cooperation and consultation on matters pertaining to the international financial system. It studies, reviews, and promotes discussion (among key industrial and emerging market countries) of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability, and seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization. With the G-20 growing in stature since the 2008 Washington summit, its leaders announced on September 25, 2009, that the group will replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations.^[6]

The heads of the G-20 nations met semi-annually at G-20 summits between 2008 and 2011. Following the most recent summit, which was held in Cannes in November 2011, all future G-20 summits are to be held annually.^[3]

History[link]

A group photo of the participants of the 2008 G-20 Washington summit.

2009 G-20 London summit group photo.

2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit group photo.

2010 G-20 Toronto summit group photo.

2010 G-20 Seoul summit group photo.

2011 G-20 Cannes summit group photo.

The G-20, which superseded the G33 (which had itself superseded the G22), was foreshadowed at the Cologne Summit of the G7 in June 1999, but was only formally established at the G7 Finance Ministers' meeting on 26 September 1999. The inaugural meeting took place on 15–16 December 1999 in Berlin. In 2008, Spain and the Netherlands were included, by French invitation, in the G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy.

The theme of the 2006 G-20 meeting was “Building and Sustaining Prosperity”. The issues discussed included domestic reforms to achieve “sustained growth”, global energy and resource commodity markets, ‘reform’ of the World Bank and IMF, and the impact of demographic changes due to an aging population. Trevor A. Manuel, MP, Minister of Finance, South Africa, was the chairperson of the G-20 when South Africa hosted the Secretariat in 2007. Guido Mantega, Minister of Finance, Brazil, was the chairperson of the G-20 in 2008; Brazil proposed dialogue on competition in financial markets, clean energy and economic development and fiscal elements of growth and development. In a statement following a meeting of G7 finance ministers on 11 October 2008, US President George W. Bush stated that the next meeting of the G-20 would be important in finding solutions to the (then called) economic crisis of 2008. An initiative by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown led to a special meeting of the G-20, a G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy, on 15 November 2008.^[7]

Despite lacking any formal ability to enforce rules, the G-20's prominent membership gives it a strong input on global policy. However, there remain disputes over the legitimacy of the G-20,^[8] and criticisms of its organisation and the efficacy of its declarations..^[9]

Summits[link]

The G-20 Summit was created as a response both to the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and to a growing recognition that key emerging countries were not adequately included in the core of global economic discussion and governance. The G-20 Summits of heads of state or government were held in addition to the G-20 Meetings of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors who continued to meet to prepare the leaders' summit and implement their decisions. After the debut summit in Washington, D.C. during 2008, G-20 leaders met twice a year in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, Toronto and Seoul in 2010.^[10][11]

Since 2011, when France chaired and hosted the G-20, the summits have been held only once a year.^[12] Mexico will chair and host the leaders' summit in 2012.^[13]

	Date	Host country	Host city	Website
1st[14]	November 2008	United States	Washington, D.C.
2nd[14]	April 2009	United Kingdom	London	[3]
3rd[14]	September 2009	United States	Pittsburgh	[4]
4th[15]	June 2010	Canada	Toronto	[5]
5th[16]	November 2010	South Korea	Seoul	[6]
6th[17]	November 2011[18]	France	Cannes	[7]
7th[13]	June 2012[19]	Mexico	Los Cabos	[8]
8th[20]	2013	Russia	Saint Petersburg
9th[20]	2014	Australia	TBA
10th[20]	2015	Turkey	TBA

G-20 leaders' chair rotation[link]

To decide which nation gets to chair the G-20 leaders' meeting for a given year, all 19 nations are assigned to one of five different groupings. Each group holds a maximum of four nations. This system has been in place since 2010, when South Korea, which is in Group 5, held the G-20 chair. France, the host of the 2011 G-20 summit, is in Group 4, and Mexico, the host of the 2012 summit, is in Group 3. In 2013, Russia, which is in Group 2, will host the G-20 leaders' summit. The table below lists the nations' groupings:^[21]

Organization[link]

The G-20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The chair rotates annually among the members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries. The chair is part of a revolving three-member management group of past, present and future chairs referred to as the Troika. The incumbent chair establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration of its term, which coordinates the group's work and organizes its meetings. The role of the Troika is to ensure continuity in the G-20's work and management across host years. The current chair of the G-20 is Mexico; the chair was handed over from France after the November 2011 G-20 Summit.

Proposed permanent secretariat[link]

In 2010, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy proposed the establishment of a permanent G-20 secretariat, similar to the United Nations Security Council. Seoul and Paris were suggested as possible locations for its headquarters.^[22] China and Brazil supported the establishment of a secretariat, while Japan and Italy expressed opposition to the proposal.^[22] South Korea proposed a "cyber secretariat" as an alternative.^[22]

Role of Asian countries[link]

A 2011 report released by the Asian Development Bank predicted that large Asian economies such as China and India would play a more important role in global economic governance in the future. The report stated that the rise of emerging market economies heralded a new world order, in which the G-20 would become the global economic steering committee.^[23]

The report furthermore noted that Asian countries had led the global recovery following the late-2000s recession. It predicted that the region would have a greater presence on the global stage, shaping the G-20 agenda for balanced and sustainable growth through strengthening intraregional trade and stimulating domestic demand.^[23]

List of members[link]

As of 2012, there are 20 members of the G-20. These include, at the leaders summits, the leaders of 19 countries and of the European Union, and, at the ministerial-level meetings, the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries and of the European Union. In addition, the Netherlands have taken part in the first four G-20 heads of state meetings, while Spain has participated in every meeting so far, despite neither country being formally recognized members.^[3][24] The table below lists the member entities and their leaders, finance ministers and central bank governors, as well as listing relevant statistics such as population and GDP figures. Total GDP figures are given in millions of US dollars.

Region	Member	Official title	Current leader	Official title	Current finance minister	Central bank governor	Total international trade mil. USD (2011)	GDP (nominal) mil. USD (2011)[25]	GDP (PPP) mil. USD (2011)	GDP per capita (nominal) USD (2011)[26]	GDP per capita (PPP) USD (2011)	HDI (2011)	Population
Africa	South Africa	President	Jacob Zuma	Minister of Finance	Pravin Gordhan	Gill Marcus	187,070	408,074	555,340	8,066	10,977	0.619	49,320,500
N.America	Canada	Prime Minister	Stephen Harper	Minister of Finance	Jim Flaherty	Mark Carney	910,200	1,736,869	1,391,114	50,436	40,457	0.908	34,088,000
N.America	Mexico	President	Felipe Calderón	Secretary of Finance	José Antonio Meade Kuribeña	Agustín Carstens	678,200	1,154,784	1,659,016	10,153	15,121	0.770	112,211,789
N.America	United States	President	Barack Obama	Secretary of the Treasury	Timothy Geithner	Ben Bernanke	3,825,000	15,094,025	15,094,025	48,386	48,386	0.910	309,173,000
S.America	Argentina	President	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner	Minister of Economy	Hernán Lorenzino	Mercedes Marcó del Pont	155,440	447,644	710,690	10,945	17,376	0.797	40,117,096
S.America	Brazil	President	Dilma Rousseff	Minister of Finance	Guido Mantega	Alexandre Tombini	470,400	2,492,908	2,309,138	12,789	11,845	0.718	193,088,765
East Asia	China	President	Hu Jintao	Minister of Finance	Xie Xuren	Zhou Xiaochuan	3,561,000	7,298,147	11,316,224	5,414	8,394	0.687	1,339,724,852
East Asia	Japan	Prime Minister	Yoshihiko Noda	Minister of Finance	Jun Azumi	Masaaki Shirakawa	1,595,500	5,869,471	4,395,600	45,920	34,362	0.901	127,390,000
East Asia	South Korea	President	Lee Myung-bak	Minister of Strategy and Finance	Park Jae-wan	Kim Choong-soo	1,084,000	1,116,247	1,556,102	22,778	31,753	0.897	48,875,000
S.Asia	India	Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh	Minister of Finance	Pranab Mukherjee	Duvvuri Subbarao	749,200	1,676,143	4,469,763	1,389	3,703	0.547	1,210,193,422
SE.Asia	Indonesia	President	Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono	Minister of Finance	Agus Martowardojo	Darmin Nasution	381,000	845,680	1,122,638	3,509	4,668	0.617	237,556,363
W.Asia	Saudi Arabia	King	Abdullah	Minister of Finance	Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf	Muhammed Al-Jasser	457,200	577,595	677,663	20,504	24,056	0.770	27,123,977
Eurasia	Russia	President	Vladimir Putin	Minister of Finance	Anton Siluanov	Sergey Mikhaylovich Ignatyev	808,700	1,850,401	2,376,470	12,993	16,687	0.755	141,927,297
Eurasia	Turkey	Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Minister of Finance	Mehmet Şimşek	Erdem Başçı	345,200	778,089	1,114,629	10,522	15,321	0.699	72,561,312
Europe	European Union	European Council President[27] Commission President[27]	Herman Van Rompuy José Manuel Durão Barroso	Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs	Olli Rehn	Mario Draghi	3,791,000 Extra-EU27 (2010)	17,557,691	15,788,000	35,742	31,548	0.853	501,259,840
Europe	France	President	François Hollande	Minister of the Economy, Industry and Employment	Pierre Moscovici	Christian Noyer	1,263,000	2,776,324	2,216,769	44,008	35,048	0.884	65,447,374
Europe	Germany	Chancellor	Angela Merkel	Minister of Finance	Wolfgang Schäuble	Jens Weidmann	2,882,000	3,577,031	3,089,471	43,742	37,935	0.905	81,757,600
Europe	Italy	President of the Council of Ministers	Mario Monti	Minister of Economy and Finance	Mario Monti	Ignazio Visco	1,050,100	2,198,730	1,828,601	36,267	30,165	0.874	60,325,805
Europe	United Kingdom	Prime Minister	David Cameron	Chancellor of the Exchequer	George Osborne	Sir Mervyn King	1,150,300	2,417,570	2,253,585	38,592	35,974	0.863	62,041,708
Oceania	Australia	Prime Minister	Julia Gillard	Treasurer	Wayne Swan	Glenn Stevens	502,300	1,488,221	918,978	65,477	40,836	0.929	22,328,632

In addition to these 20 members, the following forums and institutions, as represented by their respective chief executive officers, participate in meetings of the G-20:^[3]

• the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
• the Chairman of the International Monetary Fund
• the President of the World Bank
• the International Monetary and Financial Committee
• the Chairman of the Development Committee

Membership does not reflect exactly the 19 largest national economies of the world in any given year. The organization states:^[1]

All 19 member nations are among the top 29 economies as measured in GDP at nominal prices in a list published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2011.^[28] Not represented by membership in the G-20 are Switzerland (19), Norway (24), Iran (25), and Taiwan (26), even though they rank higher than some members. Spain (12), the Netherlands (17), Sweden (21), Poland (22), Belgium (23), and Austria (28) are included only as part of the EU, and not independently. When the countries' GDP is measured at purchasing power parity (PPP) rates,^[29] all 19 members are among the top 25 in the world in April 2012, according to the IMF. Iran (17), Taiwan (19) and Thailand (24) are not G-20 members, while Spain (13), Poland (20) and the Netherlands (22) are only included in the EU slot. However, in a list of average GDP, calculated for the years since the group's creation (1999–2008) at both nominal and PPP rates, only Spain, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Poland appear above any G-20 member in both lists simultaneously. Spain, being the 12th largest economy in the world and 5th in the European Union in terms of nominal GDP, is a 'permanent guest' of the organization, although the Spanish government's policy is to not request official membership.^[30][31] As such, a Spanish delegation has been invited to, and has attended, every G-20 heads of state summit since the G-20's inception.

Invitees[link]

Typically, several countries that are not permanent members of the G-20 are extended invitations to participate in the summits. The invitees are chosen by the host country. For the 2010 summits, for example, both Canada and South Korea invited Ethiopia (chair of NEPAD), Malawi (chair of the African Union), Vietnam (chair of ASEAN), and Spain. Canada also invited the Netherlands (the world's 16th-largest economy), while South Korea invited Singapore. Both Canada and South Korea invited seven international organizations: the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade Organization, and the Financial Stability Board.^[32][33]

Criticisms[link]

Exclusivity of membership[link]

Although the G-20 has stated that the group's "economic weight and broad membership gives it a high degree of legitimacy and influence over the management of the global economy and financial system,"^[34] its legitimacy has been challenged. With respect to the membership issue, U.S. President Barack Obama has noted the difficulty of pleasing everyone: "everybody wants the smallest possible group that includes them. So, if they're the 21st largest nation in the world, they want the G-21, and think it's highly unfair if they have been cut out."^[35]

Norwegian perspective[link]

In an interview with Der Spiegel,^[36] Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the G-20 "one of the greatest setbacks since World War II." Although Norway is the seventh-largest contributor to international development programs in the United Nations,^[37] it is not a member of the EU, and thus is not represented in the G-20 even indirectly.^[36] Norway, like the other 170 nations not among the G-20, has little or no voice within the group. Støre characterized the G-20 as a "self-appointed group", arguing that it undermines the legitimacy of organizations set up in the aftermath of World War II, such as the IMF, World Bank and United Nations:

Global Governance Group (3G) response[link]

According to Singapore's representative to the United Nations, UN members who are not G-20 members have responded to the G-20's exclusivity by either reacting with indifference, refusing to acknowledge the G-20's legitimacy, or accepting the G-20's status while hoping to "engage the G-20 as the latter continues to evolve so that our interests are taken on board."^[38] Out of this latter group Singapore has taken a leading role in organizing an informal "Global Governance Group" of 28 non-G-20 countries, with the idea being that by working collectively they might channel their views into the G-20 process more effectively.^[39][40] Singapore's chairing of the Global Governance Group was cited as a rationale for inviting Singapore to the November 2010 G-20 Summit in South Korea.^[41]

[edit] Foreign Policy critique

The American magazine Foreign Policy has published articles condemning the G-20, in terms of its principal function as an alternative to the so-called exclusive G8. It furthermore questions the actions of some of the G-20 members, and advances the notion that some nations should not have membership in the first place. For example, it has suggested that Argentina should be formally replaced with Spain, because Spain's economy is larger.^[42]

With the effects of the Great Recession still ongoing, the magazine has criticized the G-20's efforts to implement reforms of the world's financial institutions, branding such efforts as failed.^[43]

Wider concerns[link]

The G-20's transparency and accountability have been questioned by critics, who call attention to the absence of a formal charter and the fact that the most important G-20 meetings are closed-door.^[44] The economist Frances Stewart proposed an Economic Security Council within the United Nations as an alternative to the G-20. In such a council, members would be elected by the General Assembly based on their importance in the world economy, and the contribution they are willing to provide to world economic development.^[45]

The cost and extent of summit-related security is often a contentious issue in the hosting country, and G-20 summits have attracted protesters from a variety of backgrounds, including information activists, nationalists, and opponents of Fractional Reserve Banking and crony capitalism. In 2010, the Toronto G-20 summit sparked mass protests and rioting, leading to the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.^[46]

See also[link]

• List of G-20 summits
• BRICS
• Great power
• MIKT
• Regional power

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Haas, P.M. (1992). "Introduction. Epistemic communities and international policy coordination," International Organization 46,1:1–35.
• Hajnal, Peter I. (1999). The G8 system and the G20 : Evolution, Role and Documentation. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing. 13-ISBN 978-0-7546-4550-4/10-ISBN 0-7546-4550-9; OCLC 277231920
• Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations. London: Routledge. 10-ISBN 0-415-16486-9/13-ISBN 978-0-415-16486-3; 13-ISBN 978-0-203-45085-7;10-ISBN 0-203-45085-X; OCLC 39013643
• Augusto Lopez-Claros, Augusto, Richard Samans and Marc Uzan. (2007). The international monetary system and the IMF, and the G-20 : a great transformation in the making? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 10-ISBN 0-230-52495-8/13-ISBN 978-0-230-52495-8; OCLC 255621756

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: G20

• Official G-20 website (English version), also available in Spanish
• 2010 Seoul G20
• G-20 Information Centre from the University of Toronto
• A Guide To Committees, Groups, And Clubs from the International Monetary Fund
• G20 Special Report guardian.co.uk
• IPS News – G20 Special Report
• The G20's role in the post-crisis world by FRIDE
• The Group of Twenty—A History, 2007
• Economics for Everyone: G20- Gearing for Growth

Rizwan "Riz" Khan (Urdu: ريز خان; born April 1962) is a British^[1] television news reporter and interviewer who until April 2011 hosted his own eponymous television show on Al Jazeera English. He first rose to prominence while working for the BBC and CNN.

Life and career[link]

Khan was born in Aden, South Yemen,^[1] to a Punjabi father^[2] and Gujarati mother. His father's roots are in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, while his mother's roots go back to Kutch, Gujarat. He considers himself a British Pakistani. Khan moved with his family to London, at the age of four. He attended both Springwell Junior and Hounslow Manor Comprehensive Schools and joined the Air Training Corps, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Medical Physiology from the University of Wales, and then completed a postgraduate course in Radio Journalism at the University of Portsmouth.

In 1987 he was selected for the BBC News Trainee scheme - a two-year BBC training system, usually taking only 6 people per course. Khan progressed to jobs as a BBC reporter, producer, and writer, working in both television and radio, and would later become one of the founding News Presenters on BBC World Service Television News. He hosted the news bulletin that launched BBC World Service Television News in 1991. In 1993, he moved to CNN International, where he became a senior anchor for the network's global news shows. Events he covered included the 1996 and 1999 coverage of elections in India; the 1997 historic election in Britain; and in April 1998 the unprecedented live coverage from the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj.

In 1996 he launched his interactive interview show CNN: Q&A with Riz Khan, and he has conducted interviews with guests including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, and genomic scientist J. Craig Venter. Khan also secured the world exclusive with Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf following his coup in October 1999. Khan also hosted Q&A-Asia with Riz Khan. These interactive shows put world newsmakers and celebrities up for viewer questions live by phone, e-mail, video-mail and fax, along with questions and comments taken from the real-time chatroom that opens half-an-hour before each show.

Until April 2011, Khan had his own show, Riz Khan, on Al Jazeera English, in which he interviewed analysts and policy-makers and invited viewers to interact with them via phone, email, SMS messages or fax.^[3]

Khan speaks Urdu and Hindi^[4] and also understands other South Asian languages such as Punjabi and Kutchi. He has studied French, and can understand some other European languages, including Swedish and Norwegian.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005 he authored his first book, Al-Waleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince, published by Harper Collins.

In 2011 he authored a preface for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) annual report "Attacks on the Press 2010",^[5] which examined working conditions for journalists in more than 100 countries.^[6]

References[link]

• "Why I'm Joining Al Jazeera", op-ed by Riz Khan, The Wall Street Journal, 13 June 2005, p. A1
• "Q&A CNN Anchor: Riz Khan". India Today. February 19, 2001.

External links[link]

• Riz Khan's official website
• Profile at Al Jazeera English^{[dead link]}
• MySpace Profile
• Interview with Baron Dave Romm of KFAI-FM at the Republican National Convention Sept. 2, 2008 and picture

This article about a journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Bill Maloney is a businessman and was the candidate for the Republican Party in the 2011 special election for governor of West Virginia, in which he lost.

Maloney co-founded a drilling company in 1984. He was involved in the Plan B rescue attempt during the 2010 Chilean mine disaster. Maloney has never held public office before. He lives in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Business career[link]

With a business partner, Maloney founded a company called North American Drillers in Morgantown in 1984. The company specialized in drilling large-diameter shafts for the coal, oil and natural gas industries. The business grew to 150 employees when Maloney sold his interest in 2006. Maloney has also invested in start-up companies.

Chilean mine rescue[link]

Maloney used his drilling expertise in support of the Plan B attempt to rescue the 33 trapped Chilean miners. Maloney joined the Center Rock team led by Brandon Fisher. Maloney had invested in Fisher's company as start-up. The Plan B effort was ultimately successful, and the miners were saved.^[1]

Since returning to the United States, Maloney founded the Mine Rescue Drilling Fund, which supports mine rescues efforts and mine rescue technology in the United States.

Campaign for West Virginia governor, 2011[link]

Maloney declared his campaign for governor in February. He ran in the special election to fill the unexpired term of Joe Manchin. ^[2][3][4] Maloney's name was listed first on the Republican primary ballot.^[5]

Maloney is a conservative Republican. He wanted to reform the state's tax structure and legal system.^[6][7][8]

Maloney won the May 14 primary election with 45% of the vote, but lost the general election to incumbent governor Earl Ray Tomblin by less than 3%.^[9]

Personal life[link]

Maloney is married to Sharon, and they have two adult daughters. He has a degree in industrial engineering from Lehigh University. Maloney is a member of Chestnut Ridge Church.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Maloney for West Virginia campaign site