The meeting might also seek to redesign those Bretton Woods institutions - but it is unclear what role the new institutions would undertake.

BBC: Q&A: The G20 summit

Former Belgian Prime Minister Mark Eyskens says what's needed is something similar to the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference that created rules and institutions to rebuild the economic system after World War II.

NPR: In Europe, Excesses Blamed For Money Meltdown

The World Bank was established in 1944, at a conference on postwar reconstruction in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, where representatives of more than forty nations agreed to create two new institutions: the International Monetary Fund, which was charged with guaranteeing stability in global currency markets, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was charged with raising money for the rebuilding of Europe.

NEWYORKER: The Next Crusade