Less than a year after George W. Bush cobbled together a meeting of the leading economies to deal with the global meltdown, the G20 was yesterday put at the forefront of -international economic policy making.
In a statement the White House said the leaders had "reached a historic agreement to put the G20 at the centre of their efforts to work together to build a durable recovery while avoiding the financial fragilities that led to the crisis".
G20 sources said the new powers would not come from abolishing other groups such as the G7 or G8, but the G20 would focus on economic issues while the G8 would deal primarily with international relations and foreign policy.