The Group of 20 (G20), consisting of both major advanced and emerging economies, has developed into a leading international platform for tackling the financial crisis, while the Group of Seven (G7), once dubbed a club of wealthy nations, struggles hard to stay relevant in a fast changing world.

Analysts believe it has become increasingly hard for G7 to effectively coordinate global policy on dealing with the financial crisis in a world where emerging economies become more important in any talks about major global issues.

"Historically speaking, G7 used to play a constructive role in coordinating global policy," Hong Pingfan, principle economic affairs officer and chief for Global Economic Monitoring of the United Nations, told Xinhua.

"But with the world economic order shifting and the emerging economies rising, G7 has obviously lost its representativeness and is now being taken over by G20," he said.

G7 is comprised of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.

The organization was formed in the 1970s amid a series of international financial and economic crises to better coordinate economic policies among major advanced Western economies.

The organization became known as the Group of Eight (G8) after Russia joined it in 1998.

G7 has struggled for years to stay relevant in solving major world issues as the rising of the emerging economies has made it impossible for

G7 to tackle any global economic and political issues all by itself.

The organization has repeatedly invited leaders of major emerging economies to attend its annual summits since 2005 when former British Prime Minister Tony Blair expanded G8 to G8+5 by including five emerging economies, namely, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa in its discussions.

The financial crisis has accelerated the transformation from G7 to a broader platform such as G20.

Advanced economies have been hit hard by the ongoing financial crisis while major emerging economies, with their sizable financial reserves, are widely believed to be the key to any global solution to the ongoing crisis though they are confronted with their own problems.

"More and more emerging economies have become closely involved in the global production chains as major providers of both manufactured goods and crucial energy resources," Zhang Bing, a senior researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Xinhua.

"The relative power of traditional advanced economies is in decline as the importance of emerging economies grows steadily," said Zhang.