Leaders of the world's richest and most powerful countries will attend the two-day G20 Summit in India's capital New Delhi starting September 9.

This is the first time India will host such a powerful group of world leaders. The capital has been adorned with ornamental flowers and fountains at traffic roundabouts while public buildings and sidewalks have been given a fresh coat of paint.

Security is being provided by anti-drone systems and 130,000 police and paramilitary personnel, while cutouts of langurs have also been installed to scare away monkeys.

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What is the G20?

The world's 20 major countries formed an economic grouping after the Asian financial crisis in 1999 with the understanding that such crises could no longer be contained within a nation's borders and required better international economic cooperation.

The bloc currently accounts for 80 percent of global gross domestic production (GDP) and 75 percent of international trade.

Its members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

At this year's summit, there will be one additional guest - Bangladesh. India's neighbor will make its first appearance at a G20, and is also the only South Asian country to be invited to New Delhi for the bloc's meeting.

How has the bloc evolved over the years?

In the initial years, only treasury chiefs met, but heads of all member nations decided to meet once a year for a leaders' summit post the 2008 financial crisis.

The G20 summit is held annually, under the leadership of a rotating Presidency. 

The bloc initially focused largely on broad macroeconomic issues, but it has since expanded its agenda to include trade, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, environment, climate change, and anti-corruption.

What are the key issues this year?

Under India's year-long presidency, the bloc has centered discussions around more loans to developing nations from multilateral institutions, reforming international debt architecture, regulations on cryptocurrency and the impact of geopolitical uncertainties on food and energy security.

The Indian Presidency will also spotlight Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), with an emphasis on environmentally sustainable and responsible choices at the level of both individual lifestyle and national development, with the aim of achieving a cleaner, greener future. 

The Working Groups will focus on agriculture, anti-corruption, culture, digital economy, disaster risk reduction, development, education, employment, environment and climate sustainability, energy transitions, health, trade and investment, and tourism.

Meanwhile, a group of almost 300 millionaires, economists and politicians wrote an open letter to the group ahead of the summit's opening, urging it to take action needed to prevent extreme wealth "corroding our collective future."

The letter says the G20 – made up of the G7 group of rich countries with leading emerging market nations such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia – should collectively agree to raise taxes on rich individuals and to stop tax competition and avoidance by the super-rich, reported the UK's Guardian newspaper.

So far this year, the bloc has failed to issue any joint statements as it is deeply divided over language referring to the conflict in Ukraine. 

'The world is one family'

India's G20 theme is derived from the Sanskrit phrase 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' which translates to 'The world is one family.'

Who will host the next summit?

India will hand over the presidency to Brazil on December 1.

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