LOS CABOS, Mexico - Leaders from the Group of 20 nations, known as the G-20, have completed the first of two days of economic meetings at their summit in the Mexican resort area, Los Cabos, at the tip of the Baja Peninsula.
Non-governmental organizations have expressed concern that the leaders are too caught up in the debt problems of several European nations to have much discussion of issues that are vital to the poorer nations of the world.
But analysts keeping a close eye on the proceedings say this summit could produce results that will benefit not just Europe, but the world.
There have been few protests near the summit site, partly because most of the coastal area remains heavily guarded and off limits to anyone not authorized to be here.
But some accredited observers from non-governmental organizations who are here say they feel the world leaders have abandoned their pledges to the world's poorest citizens.
Jyotsna Mohan is one of them. “They don't hear us, they don't listen to us," she said.
Mohan works in New Delhi with the Voluntary Action Network India, a group that serves as an advocate for poor communities and also promotes government reform. She says she is perturbed by her country's prime minister coming here to talk about Europe's crisis.
“I would be more happy if our prime minister would speak about our problems instead of being concerned about the eurozone crisis. Okay, we are going to be affected, but he forgets that we have 40 percent of our people living below the poverty line," she said.
But economists and political analysts from a wide range of countries say G20 leaders are right to address the European debt situation as their chief priority.
Krystel Monpetit, analyzes compliance by world leaders with their summit commitments for the Toronto-based G20 Research Group. She says the world economy will stall unless the European crisis is resolved.
“This is where you see the ripple of how this global economy is intertwined and the huge ripple that the European crisis is having on the rest of the world," she said.
She says the European Union's trade partners, like India, will have little growth until the debt problem is resolved and she thinks that, unlike other recent meetings, this one will produce something. “There could finally be a breakthrough, a significant measure that actually brings the European Union on the right pathway," she said.
She says direct recapitalizing of private European banks is likely to be one of the measures approved at this G20 summit.
Such ideas have support from the international business leaders who met nearby at the B20 conference. Former governor of the Bank of Mexico Guillermo Ortiz, who has led a group focused on financial sector reform, stressed the need for more widespread access to credit. “In the world there are around two-and-a-half billion people who have no access to financial services," he said.
The group Ortiz leads recommends using new technologies to allow more people to open bank accounts, better education of the public on financial matters, and expansion of loans to medium and small businesses.
Researcher Krystel Monpetit says helping small businesses succeed benefits a nation's economy.
“Entrepreneurship is the real engine of growth and this person, this individual will start a company and create 20 new jobs or 40 new jobs and if you don't give him the right tools to do it, then we all lose out in the end," she said.
G20 leaders will reveal their plan for Europe's debt crisis and announce decisions on other issues when they wrap up their summit Tuesday and say farewell to the beachfront hotels of Los Cabos.
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