NEW DELHI -- Top finance officials from the Group of 20 countries Friday began discussions on development, aid, the global slowdown and ways to choke off funding to terrorist groups, a senior Indian Finance Ministry official said.

The meeting in New Delhi will set the stage for a meeting today of finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 developed and developing nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The group -- representing more than 85 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) and over 60 percent of its population -- was set up in 1999 for industrialized countries and emerging markets to discuss policy in the hope of providing international financial stability.

India was expected to focus on showcasing the progress of its economic reforms launched more than a decade ago, an official said, AFP reported.

Briefing reporters in New Delhi Thursday, Finance Secretary S. Narayan said the G-20 was "a truly representative group of the whole world."

It groups Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

This year's deliberations take place against a backdrop of a sluggish global economy, with different countries beset by varying economic situations and problems, Narayan said.

While the American and the European economies were facing a slowdown, Argentina and brazil were grappling with financial crises, while China and India were both showing healthy growth, he said. According to Narayan, issues to be discussed at the meeting include "globalization, crisis prevention, expanding trade and access."

Efforts to rekindle growth in developing countries and financing of terrorism will also figure, according to Rakesh Mohan, deputy governor of India's Central Reserve Bank.

The New Delhi round of discussions is the first to be held in a developing country and India is hoping it will address one of its key concerns -- the uprooting of financial networks to terrorist groups.

Last year, the g-20 pledged to eliminate all "safe havens" for terrorist finances and said member countries' financial systems would be out of bounds for terror groups. The last meeting also vowed to maintain liquidity and stabilize markets to "provide the foundation for an early resumption of growth."