Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 (G20) major industrial and emerging-market countries begin their annual meeting here Saturday to seek ways to weather the global financial crisis.

The two-day meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors is opened in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nov. 8, 2008.

Participants at the two-day meeting are expected to discuss the current global financial situation, said Marcos Galvao, international affairs secretary of the Brazilian Finance Ministry.

Discussions on the cause of the crisis, the worst since the 1930s, and its impact on commodity prices, inflation and exchange rates are also on the agenda, he said.

Addressing the gathering, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for a “new world financial architecture” in the wake of the current financial crisis.

The Brazilian government had earlier said it would propose greater participation of developing countries in restructuring the global financial system at the meeting.

Any progress made at the event will be presented to the first G20 leaders’ summit scheduled for Nov. 15 in Washington D.C.

Founded in 1999 as an informal arena to facilitate dialogue between major industrial and emerging-market countries, the G20 accounts for 85 percent of the world’s economy and about two-thirds of the world’s population.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet