A G20 Summit will be a meeting of states who want to go on their own

As the September 24-25 Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh comes near the United States released its outline of what it is going to say during the meeting so as to urge world leaders to introduce new measures that will rebalance the world economy. The document says that exporters, which include China, Germany and Japan, should consume more, while debtors like the United States ought to boost savings. However, as noted by many experts and economists it is unlikely that any national government will allow anyone instruct it on policy making.

"The world will face anemic growth if adjustments in one part of the global economy are not matched by offsetting adjustments in other parts," said the document.

"We call on our finance ministers to launch the new framework by November," the document said, signaling a determined effort to maintain momentum for change created by last year's global financial crisis. Finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 countries are due to meet November 7-8 in Scotland.

The US hopes the IMF will play a central role in a process of "mutual assessment" by making policy recommendations to the G20 every six months.

On the other hand Jean-Claude Trichet, European Central Bank President, noted that it would be hard to persuade Europe, the United States and China to accept IMF advice on economic policy as the history shows many countries have ignored suggestions the IMF dished out in regular reviews.

"The most difficult question is still open: Europe, America, China, are they ready to modify their macroeconomic policies in the future -- by following the advice of the IMF and under pressure from their peers, for the common good, and world economic stability?" he said in the piece on Monday.

According to some sources the crisis modified the concept of cooperation and now governments will unlikely agree to be given directives in what they should or shouldn’t do.

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the IMF, warned there was a risk the Pittsburgh summit would be an empty public relations exercise.

"The point of the meetings is to try to reassure themselves and everyone else that they're broadly on track and have a round of applause and some back patting," he said.

But John Bruton, the EU ambassador to Washington, said it was important not to ignore the summit's symbolic power.

"I think we're seeing the beginning of a conversation between world leaders," he told Reuters in an interview.