The US city of Pittsburgh will host the G20 financial summit, Thursday and Friday. Leaders of the world's 20 top economies will gather to grapple with the aftermath of the worst global downturn in generations.

There are growing indicators of an economic recovery throughout the world.

The G20 leaders will now decide on additional actions to ensure sustainable recovery from the global economic crisis.

As the host of the summit, US President Barack Obama is pushing G-20 nations to make sweeping changes to how they run their economies.

Barack Obama, US President, said, "We know we still have a lot to do in conjunction with the nations around the world to strengthen the rules governing financial markets and ensure we never again find ourselves in the precarious situation we found ourselves just one year ago."

Leaders will review the progress made since the Washington and London summits. But they may find most economies are on the mend, while trade tensions and protectionism are on the rise.

Stuart Hoffman, Chief Economist of PNC Financial Services, said, "I think they'll agree the outlook for the global economy is more encouraging now than it was five or six months ago, but still their focus will be certainly on cooperation."

For summit participants, they will also discuss issues such as proposed limits on bankers' compensation, how far to go with international financial regulation and alarming recession-fueled budget deficits, especially in the US.

Meanwhile, developing countries are expected to call for changes in international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.

Some economists hope a clear sense of direction could be the outcome of the summit.

(CCTV September 24, 2009)