Following the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Group of 20 (G20) Ministers of Finance and the Governors of the Central Banks have held regular meetings every year since 1998 in order to discuss how to foster greater global financial stability. Since the 2008 financial and economic crisis, the G20 heads of state and government have held annual meetings with a view to addressing global challenges together. The G20 since has become the leading informal format for intergovernmental cooperation at leaders’ level. The G20 agenda has been broadened to include issues of climate and energy policy, international trade, tourism, health policy and digitisation, for instance, in addition to fiscal and economic policy.

The G20 comprises 19 countries, the EU (as representative of its member states, provided that they are not themselves members of the G20) and the African Union (AU), which has been a member since 2023. The G20 member countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Also invited to the meetings are Spain, as a permanent guest, and the heads of the 3G group, the African Union, NEPAD, and the APEC. Depending on the issues being dealt with, other international organisations are also invited to take part in the G20 process and to provide valuable input to its work. This notably applies to the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the OECD, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Financial Stability Board, the International Labour Organization and the World Health Organization. The country holding the G20 Presidency can also decide to invite other countries to participate as guests.

On 1 December 2022, India took over the G20 Presidency for 2023 from Indonesia. On 1 December 2023, Brazil will take over the G20 Presidency for 2024.

You can find official documents of the G20 summits and statements in the German and English languages here.