Elite G-7 to be replaced by G-20

Pittsburgh, Sep 26 (ANI): World leaders have announced that the elite club of developed nations known as the Group 7 would be permanently replaced as a global forum for economic policy by the much broader Group of 20, which includes China, Brazil, India and other fast-growing developing nations.

World leaders agreed to the expansion of the G 20's role in global economic affairs during meetings on Thursday, the White House said in a statement.

"Dramatic changes in the world economy have not always been reflected in the global architecture for economic cooperation," The New York Times quoted the statement, as saying.

"This all started to change today. The G-20 leaders reached a historic agreement to put the G-20 at the center of their efforts to work together to build a durable recovery while avoiding the financial fragilities that led to the crisis."

For more than three decades, the main economic group was the G 7 - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. During the Clinton years, Russia was gradually added, not because of the size of its economy, but to help integrate it with the West.

The Obama Administration officials said the group would still meet twice a year to discuss security issues, the NYT reports. (ANI)