Much of the important business takes place on the sidelines[在正式议程之外;作为旁观者] and in informal meetings[非正式的会议].

Initially attendance at G20 summits was limited to the finance ministers[财政部长] and central bank governors[中央银行行长] of members, when it was established 17 years ago. 

But since an inaugural meeting[开幕会议;创立会议] between G20 leaders in Washington DC following the collapse of Lehman Brothers[雷曼兄弟]in 2008, summits between G20 leaders themselves have become an annual event.

The first G20 summit occurred in Berlin, in December 1999 and was hosted by the German and Canadian finance ministers.

Since then there have been 18 G20 meetings between finance ministers and central bank governors, and 10 summits between heads of state or government of G20 economies.

The next summit of , from 4-5 September 2016. It is the first to be hosted by China, only the second in Asia, and has been hailed as[被誉为] a “milestone” in the country’s development and symbolic of its growing importance as a major power.

The G20 is made up of:

The final member is the European Union, represented by the European Commission[欧盟委员会], rotating[1] Council presidency and the European Central Bank[欧洲中央银行] (ECB). Spain as a permanent non-member invitee[被邀请者] also attends leader summits.

[1]rotate：If a job rotates or if a group of people rotate their jobs, the jobs are done at different times by different people. 轮流做；（由…）轮值；轮换

Other countries also attend summits at the invitation of the host country, while it  has become customary for the Chair of ASEAN[东盟] (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and representatives of the African Union[非洲联盟] and NEPAD[非洲发展新伙伴计划] (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) to be present at leader summits.

Meetings tend to occur on an annual basis; however leaders met twice a year in 2009 and 2010, when the global economy was in crisis. The last meeting between finance ministers and central bank governors was held in Chengdu, China, in July 2016.

Fearing deadlock[僵局] in a larger decision-making body, not all countries are invited to the G20.

The G20 has no permanent staff of its own and its chairmanship[主席的身份或资格] rotates annually between nations divided into regional groupings.

China holds the chairmanship in 2016, with Germany to take over in 2017, and India the year after. Hosting the summit is an opportunity to set the agenda and lead discussions.

In 2009, when the UK held a special spring summit, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown orchestrated[2] a deal in which world leaders agreed on a $1.1 trillion injection of financial aid into the global economy. The “historic” deal was widely viewed as a success.

[2]orchestrate ['ɔːkɪstreɪt]：to arrange something carefully, and sometimes unfairly, so as to achieve a wanted result 精心安排；用心策划

Their victory was largely a result of their brilliantly orchestrated election campaign.

他们的胜利主要归功于他们的选举活动策划得非常成功。

英文短片 | 马云为杭州 G20峰会 代言