G20
summit: live blogging
UK
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Age 57
Style Dour Scottish
Best quote “I haven’t been going round the world talking to leaders in
every country simply to say we are having a communique”
Friends round the G20 table Similar economic position to Barack Obama,
agrees on free trade with President Lula of Brazil. Irritated by Nicolas
Sarkozy and Angela Merkel who both are resisting efforts to get them put
more money in their economies
Agenda Saving the world to save his career: must be seen to work to
give Gordon the slightest chance of re-election
Size of stimulus 0.7 per cent 2008 GDP
United
States
President Barack Obama
Age 47.
Style Jazz cool, inspirational, cerebral, recently a bit angry
Best known for Being the first black president of the United States
Best quote "There is not a black America and white America and
Latino America and Asian America – there's the United States of America!"
Or, maybe: "Yes, we can!"
Friends and enemies round the G20 table Everyone will want to be seen
as his friend. Closest ally – on economics, at least – will probably be
Gordon Brown.
Agenda Would like support for co-ordinated stimulus but will get more
words than action
Size of stimulus 5.9 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Genuinely holds him in high regard
Argentina
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Age 56
Style combative, glamorous, power-dressing wife of former president.
Best known for Roving the world as ambassador-at-large, leading some to
suspect that her husband Nestor Kirchner remains the real power.
Best quote "[I am like] the Evita of the hair in a bun and the
clenched fist before a microphone"
Friends and enemies round the G20 table Main ally is President Lula of
Brazil
Agenda Desperate for reform of the World Bank and IMF.
Size of stimulus 1.3 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor no personal animosity but summit falls on April
2, the day Argentine troops landed in the Falkland Islands in 1982
Brazil
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Age 63
Style Folksy charm. Likes to wave his left hand for emphasis when
discussing struggles, demonstrating finger lost in a factory accident
Best known for Modest background, union ties. Presided over remarkable
economic growth from 2003 until current world recession.
Best quote "Respect is important, and we plan to respect others.
But we want some respect, too."
Friends and Enemies at G20 Allied with India, Russia, and China (BRIC)
in pushing for greater IMF voting rights.
Agenda the above; rejection of protectionism
Size of stimulus 0.5 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Shared leftist past
Mexico
Felipe Calderón
Age 46
Style Defiant, prickly conservative
Best known for Battle with the powerful drugs cartels.
Best quote "My hand won't tremble in acting firmly and
courageously to stop the crime that is holding Mexicans hostage."
Friends and Enemies at G20 Much in common with emerging economies, but
should find common ground with more developed economies too.
Agenda Wants strengthened World Bank and IMF.
Size of stimulus 1 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon friendly factor Interested enough in the UK to be coming early
on March 29 for a state visit.
Canada
Stephen Harper
Age 49
Style Reserved, cool, stilted.
Best known for Not much. Strong conservative
Best quote "My strengths are not spin or passion. But my policies
are clear and my intentions are straightforward."
Friends and Enemies at G20 ????
Agenda Find a solution to the international banking crisis. Will seek
assurances on free trade
Size of stimulus 2.8 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Smarting because of a leaked British document
suggesting Canada is a "tier-2" G20 country.
Japan
Taro Aso
Age 68
Style Outspoken nationalist with a weakness for malapropisms.
Best known for love of manga comics; catastrophically low approval
ratings.
Best quotation "I pay my taxes, so why should I pay money for
[elderly] people who laze around eating and drinking and never do anything?"
Friends and enemies round the G20 table Friends with US, military
protector from North Korea.
Agenda Favours heavy public spending ahead of deregulation. Needs
impressive overseas performance to save him from electoral defeat later this
year.
Size of stimulus 2.2 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon friendly factor Gordon knows the Japanese are crucial to the
international recovery – but Aso is unlikely to be around long.
South Korea
Lee Myung Bak
Age 67
Style energetic
Best known for Unswerving determination - nickname is 'the Bulldozer".
Best quote "I can tell you for a fact: Korea will not have another
financial crisis."
Friends and enemies round the G20 table US is a military ally
Agenda North Korea's imminent rocket launch. Wants to scotch suspicions
that South Korea's economy is in deeper trouble than it admits
Size of stimulus 2.7 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Both church-goers.
Indonesia
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Age 59
Style Thoughtful, quietly spoken.
Best known for decisive response to Bali bombings (as a minister) and
the tsunami.
Best quotation ... "The Indonesian democracy is still in the
making . . .Indonesia will one day be one of the biggest democracies in the
world."
Friends and enemies round the G20 table Outwardly good relations with
China but anxious about Beijing's superpower ambitions.
Agenda Pressing for a fund to help developing countries finance
recovery programmes.
Size of stimulus 2.4 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Similarly unexcitable
The Netherlands
(Not technically a member of the G20 but invited to attend)
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende
Age 52
Style Uncharismatic career politician, devout member of the Calvinist
Protestant Church
Best known for Nickname of Harry Potter for his boyish looks and round
spectacles
Best quote "You cannot compare the EU to the US. We have very
sound security networks where people who lose their jobs are looked after.
The US has enormous debts."
Friends and enemies round the G20 table Closest to Angela Merkel of
Germany
Agenda Worried about solvency with his country's generous welfare
payments. Needs a firm commitment to free trade from the US – the Dutch
economy is very dependent on exports.
Size of stimulus package 6 billion euros for 2009 and 2010, following a
stimulus last year of 6 billion euros.
Gordon-friendly factor Suspicious that Brown will side with the US
rather than Europe
Italy
Silvio Berlusconi
Age 72
Style Populist, flamboyant, unpredictable
Best known for gaffes, off-colour jokes, use of media and political
influence to defend business interests and obstruct corruption allegations
Best quote "There is no-one on the world stage who can compete
with me"
Friends and enemies round the G20 table has ground to make up with
Obama after describing him as "suntanned"
Agenda Holds the G8 Presidency. Hoping that G20 will lay ground for
this
Size of stimulus 0.3 per cent GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Had cordial meeting with Gordon in Rome in
February
Australia
Kevin Rudd
Age 51
Style Charisma-free zone
Best quote Most recently, a planned 'slip of the tongue' which had him
warning of a political 'shit-storm' on a tabloid television show
Friends and enemies around G20 table Obama is new best friend after
PM's visit to Washington this week.
Agenda Will push for greater international co-ordination of response to
toxic assets
Size of stimulus 1.8 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Under some strain recently when leaked UK
documents showed Australia had been relegated to the G20 "B-list"
Spain
(Not technically a member of the G20 but invited to attend)
Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Age 48
Style Courteous. Enemies claim he bears a striking resemblance to Mr
Bean
Best known for Social reforms including legalising gay marriage and
stem cell research.
Best quote "I will always honour my promises"
Friends around the G20 table Britain and France. Spain also recently
signed an energy agreement with Moscow. The sudden decision to withdraw
Spanish troops from Kosovo angered Washington
Agenda Wants other states bring in fiscal stimulus packages
Size of stimulus 4.5 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Spain gets a seat despite not being a G20 member
because Zapatero and Brown are allies
Czech Republic
(The Czech delegation is attending in its capacity as current holders of the
EU Presidency)
Mirek Topolanek
Age 52
Style Right-wing bruiser
Best known for Losing vote of no confidence on Tuesday although he will
continue to represent the EU presidency at G20
Best quote Described US calls for continued fiscal stimulus as "the
road to hell."
Friends and enemies round the G20 table No friends. Has fallen out
badly with Nicolas Sarkozy
Agenda Appear competent at an international level to boost chances of
forming another government.
Size of stimulus None. A package of bureaucratic measures to help
entrepreneurs.
Gordon-friendly factor Hardly knows him and comes from the other end of
the political spectrum
South Africa
Kgalema Motlanthe
Age 59
Style Shuns limelight
Best known for Time as secretary-general of the powerful national union
of mineworkers in 1992
Best quote Repeatedly says his job is to "accurately and as
faithfully as possible reflect views of the membership"
Friends and enemies round the G20 table Extremely close to China.
Brazil and India are new trading partners
Agenda Determined to ensure current crisis does not see world trade
rules further skewed in direction of BRIC countries
Size of stimulus 2.6 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Friendly through ANC-Labour links and Brown's
visits to South Africa as Chancellor
Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Age 55
Style Fiery, good orator, man of the people
Best known for serving a jail term for reading a poem;
Best quote "One minute" – what he said when he was trying to
continue speaking about the plight of Palestinians in Davos when a moderator
cut him off
Friends around the G20 table Loves Berlusconi. Hates Merkel and Sarkozy
because they are lukewarm on Turkish-EU membership talks
Stimulus package None
Gordon-friendly factor Turks like Britain because they support Turkish
EU membership.
Russia
Dmitri Medvedev
Age 43
Style Suffering from little-brother syndrome in the shadow of Vladimir
Putin
Best known for Becoming President – the first election he ever stood
in. And his love of Deep Purple
Best quote "We will be able to preserve the course of President
Putin"
Friends and enemies around the G20 table Expect Russia to ally with
other BRIC states of China, Brazil and India to challenge US dollar as
global reserve currency
Agenda To strike up a good relationship with Obama while trying not to
look like the junior partner.
Size of stimulus 1.7 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Almost nil
France
Nicolas Sarkozy
Age 54
Style Energetic, hot-tempered, authoritarian
Best known for Carla Bruni
Best quotes "Casse-toi pauv'con" – Get lost, poor sod –
uttered when he lost his temper with a hostile bystander
Friends around G20 table President Medvedev, a fellow lawyer, was
befriended by Sarkozy when he helped broker peace in Georgia war last
August. Brazil wants a new strategic partnership with France
Agenda To make his mark as most forceful European leader and advance
his goal of complete "refoundation of capitalism"
Size of stimulus 0.7 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Fair to middling
China
Hu Jintao
Age 66
Style Cautious, taciturn. Said to like ballroom dancing
Best known for His return to egalitarianism after years of
get-rich-quick leadership
Best quote Life "requires resolve, attention to concrete matters
and courage in making decisions"
Friends around G20 table Relations with France are in the deep freeze
over the Dalai Lama. Friendly with several others, notably Brazil,
Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Australia
Agenda To present China as a champion of the Third World; to ensure
domestic recovery as contribution to world recovery
Size of stimulus 13.3 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Pleased with Britain's policy on Tibet and the
Dalai Lama
Germany
Angela Merkel
Age 54
Style Quiet, self-effacing
Best known for Caution
Best quote "We need to send good psychological signals from London
and not engage in a competition for unrealisable growth packages"
Friends around the G20 table Strained relationship with Sarkozy has
improved recently. At odds with Washington over America's calls for bigger
European stimulus packages
Agenda Keen to demonstrate leadership in election year. Will push hard
for a clamp-down on tax havens
Size of stimulus 3.4 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Low. A leading opponent of US-UK calls for
coordinated stimulus
Saudi Arabia
Ibrahim al-Assaf
Style Has promised that the kingdom will "play its role" in
the massive stimulus package to the G20 meeting without writing blank
cheques
Best known for Work as finance minister
Best quote "There were lots of rumors that we were coming here to
pay the bill; there is no such thing"
Friends around G20 table The only OPEC country that is also a member of
the G20, and will be representing the interests of both the oil cartel and
the Arab world
Agenda Amid plunging fuel prices, will be keen to engineer a recovery
that will reinvigorate the market
Size of stimulus 9.4 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor Unknown quantity
India
Manmohan Singh
Age 76
Style Softly spoken, mild-mannered technocrat
Best known for Opening up India's economy as Finance Minister in 1991
Best quote "India happens to be a rich country inhabited by very
poor people”
Friends around the G20 table No great friends or enemies, but keen to
build on new strategic partnership with the United States after last year's
landmark nuclear deal, and still wary of China's territorial ambitions due
to 1962 border war
Agenda With parliamentary elections just two weeks away, the aim is to
talk up India's economic achievements and relative economic health, to raise
Mr Singh's profile as a statesman, and to avoid controversy at all costs
Size of stimulus 0.5 per cent 2008 GDP
Gordon-friendly factor: Gordon calls Manmohan "a very old friend”
