Friends, before understanding G20, we need to understand G7. Because G7 was formed before G20.

It all began in the early 1970s. The economic condition of the world was worsening. There were many
reasons behind it.

But the biggest reason was the oil crisis of 1973. This crisis started when the Arab countries imposed an
oil embargo.

They stopped selling oil to those countries that were supporting Israel. Mostly, the Western countries
like America and Europe.

These Western countries relied heavily on oil coming from the Middle East and because of this, these
countries witnessed a heavy economic recession. cut off all oil shipments to the United States."

Their governments decided that

if they wanted to improve the economic situation,

they needed to take action together. To bring the economy back on track,

they needed to sit together and make economic policies.

Because of this, there were some informal meetings

in the White House, USA between the finance ministers of these countries.

It was in early 1973, that the finance ministers of the USA, France, the UK and West Germany met.

Two years later, they included Italy and Japan. And in 1975, the first G6 meeting took place.

This was the first official meeting. After this, in 1976, Canada joined the group.

And the G6 group became the G7 group. These seven countries were among the most developed
countries of their time. Their economies were among the top economies in the world.

But there were many other commonalities among them. All these countries were liberal democracies
and promoted values like human rights and individual freedom. Politically, during the Cold War, these
countries were part of the Western Bloc.

So you can say that they were ideologically similar too.

And economically, of course.

They were struggling with problems like the oil crisis and recession.

So, their main aim was to sit together and make economic strategies.

In 1998, Russia was also included in this group.

G7 became G8. But in 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, Russia was expelled from this group.

Now, if we come to G20, it was also started due to the economic crisis.

The Asian financial crisis of 1997. There was a huge financial crisis in South Korea, Indonesia, and
Thailand.

"The global markets worried that Asian countries might have similar hidden flaws." But this crisis was so
big that it affected Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines and to some extent China, Japan,
Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The value of the currency started to fall rapidly in these countries,

unemployment started to rise

But other members of G7 also realized that the world is becoming more interconnected with time.

Globalization was so prominent that if there were problems in one country, its effects were felt by other
countries too. And so, if we want to bring economic stability to the world

and stop heavy recessions, we will have to sit with the emerging economies of the world to make action
plans. So, on 26th September, 1999, during the meeting of the finance ministers of G7, the G20 group
was established.

and now let's get back to G20.

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In this group, these developed countries

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included the developing countries as well.

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But the question was, in this G20,

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which countries should be kept

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and which should not be kept?

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The very first criterion was that

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the G7 members would definitely remain.

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Then they saw which were the biggest countries in the world

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the ones that were handling the biggest economies.

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On this basis, China, India,

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Brazil, South Africa, and Russia were included.

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Then they looked for the biggest regional powers.

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Because it was necessary to have a representation of every region in the world.

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For this reason, Indonesia and South Korea from Asia,

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Brazil and Argentina from South America,

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Mexico from North America,

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Australia from Oceania,

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Saudi Arabia and Turkey from the Middle East,

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and in Europe, apart from the G7 countries,

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European Union was considered as a whole to represent the rest of Europe.

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So, today, there are 19 countries in the G20

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and one European Union.

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Broadly speaking, you can say that

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these 20 countries are among the top 20 countries in the world.

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Not only politically and economically,

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but also military and population-wise.

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The interesting thing is that

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since the real purpose behind making the G20 was to deal with the financial crisis.

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The G20 group meetings were attended by only the finance ministers and

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the central bank governors of these countries.

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This continued for many years

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until the global financial crisis of 2008.

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"The signs were everywhere,

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but now it's official,

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we are in a recession!"

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"There's been a widespread loss of confidence

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and major sectors of America's financial system

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are at risk of shutting down."

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Then these countries realized that

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they should have more serious meetings.

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Not only the finance ministers

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but the presidents and prime ministers also needed to meet.

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The cooperation between all the countries should be at the next level if

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future financial crises were to be prevented.

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That's why the first official summit of G20 leaders was held in 2008.

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This first summit was held in America

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where these countries collectively decided

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to reduce the trade barriers between them.

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Increase the spending.

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In total, they aimed to spend $4 trillion

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so that all the economies could be revived.

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In total, the G20 countries collectively

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contribute 85% of the global economic output.

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More than 75% of the global trade is in these countries.

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And more than 2/3rds of the world's population live in these countries.

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Since 2008, the G20 Summit has been held every year.
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And it happens in a different country every year.

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To set the agenda of these G20 meetings

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and to ensure that it's working smoothly

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a Troika System is used.

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Under the Troika System, three countries work together.

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Current G20 President,

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G20 President of the previous year,

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and G20 President of the upcoming year.

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Last year, the G20 Summit was held in Indonesia.

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This year, it'll be in India.

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And in 2024, it will be held in Brazil.

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So, Indonesia, India, and Brazil

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are the current Troika countries.

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The G20 Presidency works on a rotational basis.

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Among the 20 members of G20,

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every year, a member becomes the President.

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The media would like you to believe that

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this is a huge achievement of the government

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that the G20 Summit is being held in India this year.

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But this is part of the process.

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If not this year, then some other year,

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The G20 Summit was bound to take place in India.

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If you look at the list from the first Summit in 2008,

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this is the 18th G20 summit.