As the leaders of the Group of 20 gather Thursday and Friday for an economic summit in Pittsburgh, they'll be testing two themes:

• How much appetite remains for coordinated economic decision-making among the world's leading and developing nations as the global crisis shifts into recovery mode?

• Can President Barack Obama, the host of this third meeting of G-20 government heads in a year, persuade his country to help him deliver the financial revisions and climate-change initiatives that he has told other nations he wants?

Organizers don't expect to announce major new spending at this G-20; nothing like the summit last April in London, where leaders committed more than $1 trillion to manage the economic crisis and help poor nations. On the contrary, they'll talk about how to dial back spending as they cautiously congratulate one another on using central-bank coordination to avert a global depression.

``Pittsburgh is not intended to be a victory lap,'' said Mike Froman, Obama's deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs.

``I think for the average American, the most important thing about this summit is the way it underscores how our economy here at home is integrally linked with the global economy.''

The G-20 accounts for about 85 percent of the world's economy and two-thirds of the world's population. Members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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