就在G20峰會舉行的幾天前，總統奧巴馬敦促各國領導人支持對敘利亞採取懲罰性行動，因為該國使用化學武器違反了國際禁令。但週三在瑞士短暫停留時，他明確表示經濟問題仍是重中之重。
“在G20峰會上，我與歐洲和世界各地分享了我的看法，我們必須繼續關注就業和增長。這不僅對我們的經濟來說至關重要，而且對於維持目前面臨嚴重壓力的民主國家的穩定來說也很重要。”
有的人認為這兩個問題是不可分割的。
“增長不景氣時受到敘利亞局勢的影響，這是G20議程的核心問題，但在當天結束時，就包括100萬兒童的200萬難民來說，就敘利亞10萬死亡者來說，G20必須滿足各國人民的期待，人們現在都感到這個世界無能為力。我想這是無法逃避的責任，”澳大利亞最大慈善組織世界宣明會的CEO梯姆·科斯特洛說。
俄羅斯政治分析家康斯坦丁·艾格特說，期待這20個不同甚至有時利益相衝突國家在國際問題上作出什麼實質性的決定是不現實的，他指出，俄羅斯總統普京和美國總統奧巴馬之間關係緊張。
“普京總統不喜歡奧巴馬，或者說得嚴重點，看不起奧巴馬，認為他是個沒有經驗的政治家，過於關注自己的公眾關係，過於信賴評定結果和政治顧問，過去兩年兩次改變其中東政策。”
G20峰會為世界各國領導人在峰會休息期間進行雙邊對話的機會，但總統奧巴馬可能不會與俄羅斯總統會面，上月，在俄羅斯向逃亡的美國情報洩密者愛德華·斯諾登提供暫時避難後，奧巴馬就取消了原定對俄羅斯的國事訪問。奧巴馬計畫改為與俄羅斯的一群權利活動人士會面。
在峰會開始前，總統普京為本國政府的人權紀錄辯護。
“今年，政府為包括人權保護在內的非政府活動提供的資金翻了三番，政府撥款一億多美元用於實施重要的社會項目。”
參加峰會的20個國家占了全世界三分之二的人口和90%的經濟產出。
Leaders of the world’s 20 major economies, both developed and developing, are meeting in the Russian city of St. Petersburg Thursday and Friday to discuss economic and other issues. The eyes of the international community are on these G20 leaders as they discuss, among other issues, how to end Syria’s bloody civil war. The world’s economy remains the official number one topic at the annual forum.
For days ahead of the G20 summit, President Obama has urged world leaders to support punitive action against Syria for breaking the international ban on the use of chemical weapons. But during a stop in Sweden Wednesday, he made it clear that the economy remains his top priority.
"And as I head into the G-20, I shared my view that here in Europe and around the world, we’ve got to stay focused on creating jobs and growth," Obama said. "That’s going to be critically important not only for our economies but also to maintain stability in many of our democracies that are under severe stress at this point."
Some people see the two issues as inseparable.
"The dampening of growth is really impacted by what’s happening in Syria, that’s a core G20 agenda, but at the end of the day, G20 has to deliver on the expectations of people in their countries and they’re all looking at the utter impotence of the world when it comes to 2 million refugees, a million of them kids, 100,000 dead in Syria. So I think it’s inescapable,’’ said Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision, Australia’s largest charity organization.
Russian political analyst Konstantin Eggert said it is unrealistic to expect any practical decisions on global issues from the 20 nations of different and sometimes conflicting interests. He cited the tense relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama.
"President Putin doesn’t like, or I would even put it stronger, despises President Obama -- sees him as an inexperienced politician, a person too much focused on his own public relations, who has too much trust in ratings and his spin doctors, a person who has changed his Middle East policies twice in the last two years,’’ Eggert said.
The annual G20 gathering is an opportunity for world leaders to hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit. But President Obama is not expected to meet with his Russian counterpart. He cancelled a planned state visit to Moscow last month after Russia granted temporary asylum to fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. Mr. Obama is planning instead to meet with a group of Russian rights activists.
President Putin defended his government’s human rights record on the eve of the summit.
"This year, the funding from government sources of the NGO [non-governmental organization] activity, including human rights protection, has more than tripled," Putin said. "More than $100 million were allocated to implement socially important projects."
The 20 countries represented at the summit account for two-thirds of the world population and 90 percent of its economic output.
