Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot has opened the ninth Group of 20 Summit in Brisbane by urging world leaders to deliver on an initiative to boost the global gross domestic product by $2 trillion.
Abbott says delegates from the world's 20 largest economies should focus on economic issues, despite the security situation in Ukraine, regional territorial disputes and the debate on global warming.
"As you look around the world there many difficulties and problems," said Abbott. "There are problems in the Middle East, there are problems in Eastern Europe, there are terrible problems in West Africa, growth has been fragile, but the message that should come from us over these next two days is a message of hope and optimism.''
He said growth plans would add millions of jobs and boost the global GDP by more than two percent over the next five years through freer trade and more investment in infrastructure.
Each country is expected to present a plan at the summit on how they will achieve their contribution toward its $2 trillion goal.
The summit will conclude Sunday with the release of a summary of what the countries have achieved and want to achieve in the future.
