G20 to replace G8 as world's economic coordinator

The leaders of the world's 20 largest economies agreed on Friday that the G20 will replace G8 as world's dominant economic coordinator.

The G8 will, however continue to meet on matters of common importance such as national security.

We designated the G20 to be the premier forum for our international economic cooperation, according to a draft statement from a two-day G20 summit in Pittsburgh.

For more than three decades, the G8 major developed countries — the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, U.K., Canada, Italy and Russia — had served as the board of directors for major global economic decisions.

The Pittsburgh summit marks the third time within a year that the G20 leaders have met to deal with the global financial meltdown.

Differences still remained on tactics, including how quickly to move away from full-bore economic stimulus policies.

The two-day summit was to end on Friday with a joint statement likely to paper over many remaining disagreements.