Finance ministers arrive for G20 meeting

The world's top financial officials from the G20 gathered in St Andrews, Scotland, on Friday to draw up a blueprint for securing global growth and to break a deadlock over who bears the cost of fighting climate change.

Even as the world emerges hesitantly from the economic downturn, finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 are likely to agree that it's too early to pull the plug on economic stimulus measures.

Britain's Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms says support is still necessary - despite recent calls from some European Union countries for an exit strategy to stem the billions of dollars being poured into national economies.

Stephen Timms, British Financial Secretary, said, "There are still significant risks and uncertainties ahead in the world economy and we're going to need to keep support in place until we're confident that recovery is with us."

Britain remains officially in recession, but the European Central Bank broadly hinted on Thursday that it will soon begin cutting back some of its emergency lending to banks, ramped up during the finance crisis.

The other key item on the agenda is tackling the financial cost of climate change.

Observers say world leaders look set to fail in their goal of reaching a binding agreement beyond the Kyoto Protocol, despite two years of negotiations.

Despite the gloomy prospects, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg remains confident there will be a deal in Copenhagen.

Anders Borg, Swedish Finance Minister, said, "We'll probably have to continue work after Copenhagen, we won't solve the problem in Copenhagen, but there will be progress."

Borg says they need an agreement where people are committing actual money to start dealing with climate change.