Faced with the most serious global financial meltdown since the Great Depression in the 1930s, the leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) member states gathered in Washington in late 2008 and in London earlier this year to find ways to ride out the crisis and revive the global economy.

Major achievements of the two G20 summits are as follows:

Washington G20 Summit:

On Nov. 15, 2008, G20 leaders met in Washington to try and find solutions to the global crisis. Summit participants pledged strengthened cooperation to support economic growth and agreed on an action plan of immediate and medium-term measures to cope with the financial and economic woes.

The tasks included strengthening transparency and accountability, enhancing sound regulation, promoting integrity in financial markets, reinforcing international cooperation, and reforming international financial institutions.

In addition, a declaration issued at the summit elaborated the determination of enhancing cooperation and working together to restore global growth and achieve needed reforms in the world's financial system.

The declaration also underscored the critical importance of rejecting protectionism, accentuated the necessity to refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, from imposing new export restrictions, or implementing inconsistent World Trade Organization (WTO) measures to stimulate exports.

London G20 Summit:

The G20 summit held in London in April, concluded with a consensus on how to rescue the world from the financial crisis, including pledges of US$1.1 trillion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and other multilateral financial organizations.

The pledges included 500 billion dollars for the IMF to lend to countries affected by the financial crisis, 250 billion dollars were for new Special Drawing Rights of the IMF, and 100 billion dollars were for multilateral development banks to lend to poor nations.

The leaders also agreed to establish a new Financial Stability Board (FSB) with a strengthened mandate as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum. The FSB will collaborate with the IMF to provide an early warning of macroeconomic and financial risks and actions needed to address them.

Furthermore, the leaders agreed to build a stronger, more globally consistent supervisory and regulatory network to rebuild trust in the financial system.

Meanwhile, the G20 leaders spoke out against protectionism and voiced determination to promote and facilitate global trade and investment.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2009)