He seems to have quietly forgotten that the G8 is currently chaired by Japan (the financial summit is now formally a G20 meeting).

ECONOMIST: Nicolas Sarkozy

Mrs Merkel has also called for tougher regulation of banks and financial markets ahead of next month's G20 summit in Canada.

BBC: Germans approve euro rescue plan

He is unlikely to wow economics laureates with his diagnosis of the financial crisis or define the agenda of a G20 summit.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

The group's global programmes director, Christiaan Poortman, said he hoped the weight of the financial crisis would not lead policymakers at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh to water down corruption-fighting efforts.

BBC: Corruption 'stifling economies'

London plays host next week to the G20 summit, which will bring together heads of state, financial chiefs and central bank governors of the G20 nations.

CNN: Brown, bank chiefs thrash out G20 plans

There's no getting around it, the BRICs have come out of the global financial crisis remarkably well, especially China, whose diplomatic skills at the recent G20 Summit in Cannes impressed all who were there and left the American delegation rather nervous.

BBC: The global financial crisis and the BRICs

Financial regulatory reform -- huge lift -- that we talked about in my first G20 summit, it is now coming to fruition.

WHITEHOUSE: G20 Summit Presidential Press Conference