The two-day G8 summit began in Huntsville on Friday. It will be followed on Saturday by a G20 summit in Toronto, which will finish on June 27.

More than 5,000 police officers patrolling city streets, four kilometres of three-metre-high concrete and metal fencing surrounding a security zone in the heart of downtown, and the planned closures of attractions like museums, theatres, and sporting events, marketing the city o Toronto during the G20 Summit is the framework of this prestigious event.

World leaders at the 2010 G8 and G20 summits will agree to start withdrawing fiscal stimulation programs by 2011.

Politicians will discuss major global problems and the progress made towards the Millennium Development Goals on the eradication of poverty and starvation, and improving the quality of life on the planet.

Leaders of the G8 states showed a unified approach to global economy issues during their first discussion at the summit in Canada, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

"All participants of the discussion demonstrated mutual understanding on the problems of global economy," Merkel said after the discussion.

"I have made it clear that we need sustainable growth, and that growth and clever austerity measures don't have to be contradictions," she added.

The leaders also planned to discuss the future activities of world financial institutions and the economic situation in the eurozone, a Russian Finance Ministry official, Andrei Bokarev, said earlier on Friday. Talks also focused on the crisis in Greece and the recent decision to establish a stabilization fund to support EU countries experiencing economic difficulties.

The European Union will be represented as a full member at the G8 summit from 25-26 June and the G20 summit from 26-27 June in Canada by the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.

On 13 May 2010 Commission president Barroso spelled out his view on the EU priorities for the Summit. Mr Barroso said in this context:

"The G20 remains a key vehicle for the EU to drive forward a reform agenda which tackles the challenges exposed and which commits our international partners to deliver, too. Recovery from the crisis and a shift to sustainable, responsible, growing economies and markets are shared goals that can only be delivered by a shared global effort."

On 17 June 2010 the European Council defined a unified EU position for the G20 summit .

The EU played a key role in launching the G20 leaders' process. It has also provided much of the political impetus and substantive thinking that has established it as the primary forum for global discussion and coordination on economic and financial issues.

In 2010 Canada chairs the G8 and South Korea chairs the G20. A second G20 summit will take place in Seoul on 11-12 November 2010.In 2011 France will take over the presidency of both the G8 and the G20.

"The first subject discussed by leaders was the current situation in the world economic and financial markets," Andrei Bokarev, a Russian Finance Ministry official said, adding that rising state debt and budget deficits as a result of the financial crisis were the most pressing issues.

"The sharp increase in state debt is a pressing problem. Fiscal stimulus policies will mean that the G8 countries will soon encounter huge debt and deficit problems," he said.

Bokarev said that, according to forecasts by leading experts and international organizations, in a few years, the ratio of state debt to GDP could reach around 300% in Japan, 200% in Britain, and 150% in France, Germany and Italy. He said this problem "requires operational decisions to reverse the trend."

The official said the leaders also planned to discuss the future activities of world financial institutions and the economic situation in the eurozone. Talks will focus on the crisis in Greece and the recent decision to establish a stabilization fund to support EU countries experiencing economic difficulties.

Leaders at the G20 Summit, being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Saturday and Sunday, will meet around the conference table used at last year's summit in Pittsburgh.