INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION

G5 to G20

After the USA put an end to the convertibility of the dollar, and with the dollar crisis of the 1970s, there was a need for coordination to stabilize exchange rates while the IMF could no longer reach its purpose of a stable exchange system, and where the United Nations' multilateral system with other humanitarian and cultural roles was inefficient. Also, countries such as Japan and Germany, now again great industrial powers, had to participate in international cooperation. In Rambouillet, France in 1975 the G7 met – France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Japan and the USA; Canada joined one year later, the G7 becoming the G8. The idea was to set an informal system gathering together the key economic western powers and Russia as the USA could no longer be the only one on which the stability of the monetary system could rely.

In September 1999, it appeared that restricting this informal committee to the G8 was no longer possible and that other key countries had to be present, such as China, India, Brazil, Pakistan and Mexico among others. In 2008, with the new financial global crisis and with the initiative of the French President, the G20 became institutional despite the absence of a treaty to set its purpose and powers. Nevertheless, the G20 created a multilateral mode of communication that allows progress and may allow negotiations between senior representatives of countries and international organizations that know each other. It has an agenda of what to achieve and issues press releases. The most recent press releases have often been common between the IMF, the G20, ECB and EU.{{}Los Cabos, June 18-19, 2012 on the IMF and its relationship with the G20. Press release and common press release on Greece with the EU, ECB of October 17, 2012.} As a matter of fact, the institutions are reciprocally represented to each other. The General Manager for the IMF as well as the World Bank sits in on the G20's meetings. Actions like country reviews are often conducted in common.