The summit came after U.S.-led efforts to obtain a UN Security Council resolution authorising military strikes against the Assad government had failed due to Russian and Chinese opposition.

The House of Commons of the United Kingdom had defeated a motion regarding UK involvement in any strike on 30 August[4] and U.S. politicians were debating potential action as the summit was ongoing.

[7] While preparing for the September summit, the most pressing subject addressed – "desperately" according to Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty – was protectionist actions such as competitive devaluations.

The "nations declared ... there would be no currency war and deferred plans to set new debt-cutting targets, underlining broad concern about the fragile state of the world economy", per Reuters.

[9][10] During the summit, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh focused on the ongoing economic crisis and urged the G20 nations to pay more attention to their monetary policies.