Top finance officials from the Group of Seven economies will discuss ways to nurture an economic recovery, financial regulation and ways to boost trade when they meet on Friday and Saturday with Osbourne.

"The G20 is the primary body that deals with the global economic rules, but it's sensible I think for the seven largest western economies to get together in this informal setting."

"We will be talking about how to nurture the recovery. I think that there is no doubt that there is greater stability, and that is reflected in financial markets than perhaps there was last year, but that doesn't mean that we should let up in taking the necessary steps to secure that recovery and ensure a sustainable recovery."

"I hope we have time in our G7 meeting to talk about some of the structural reforms, not just that we undertake individually as countries, and of course the primary responsibility is of national governments to undertake structural reform, to make sure we're more competitive and more productive. But I think also to confront some of that pessimism that says that there is nothing the international community can do collectively to improve the performance of the world economy," he said.