Why the G-20 Summit, Not the G-7?
The next question then is: Why the G-20 summit instead of the traditional G-7 summit? As you know, there have been many who argue for the necessity of expanding the G-7 as a global informal steering committee. C. Fred Bergsten made this point in March 2004 at the G-20 finance ministers meeting in Leipzieg, Germany. In fact, Fred advocated that the G-20 become a global steering committee. French President Nicolas Sarkozy in his UN address in September this year also proposed the expansion of the G-7 into a G-13/14. Most recently, Bob Zoellick, the World Bank president, has also suggested forming a new global steering committee of the G-14, although it should be flexible enough not to limit its members to 14. Obviously, the G-7 leaves out major economic and financial players from the emerging world. Consequently, the G-7 is considered to lack political legitimacy and its operational effectiveness suffers as a result. It is not realistic to address global economic and financial problems w
