Germany G20 Homepage Who and What is the G20 The G20, originally a meeting of finance ministers, their deputies and central bankers, was formed in 1999 in the wake of the Asian and Russian financial crisis with Canada’s then-Finance minister Paul Martin playing a lead role. [...] It was raised to the leaders’ level in the wake of the 2007-2008 A Canadian Primer to the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7-8, 2017 Page 1 by Colin Robertson July, 2017 A Canadian Primer to the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7-8, 2017 financial crisis when then-U. [...] The heads of the IMF and World Bank participate, as do the heads of the European Union and European Commission and the head of the European Central Bank. [...] The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – Russia, China, France, Britain and the U. S. – represent the world of 1945 and the early Cold War. [...] The G-20 complements, at the leadership level, the work of the other major financial and economic institutions: the ‘Bretton Woods twins’ – the IMF and World Bank – and the World Trade Organization.