'I believe China and India do deserve a greater place at the international table,' Mr Rudd told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ahead of his departure for this weekend's summit.

'One of the ways in which that can be secured is through the continuation of the G20 into the future, and that'll depend in part on how this is managed through this conference in Washington,' he said.

Mr Rudd dismissed suggestions that the Group of 20, which brings the major industrialised countries of the G8 together with the world's biggest emerging economies, was too big to produce effective strategies.

'Having the major developed and developing economies together in a common body to deal with these challenges I believe is a smart way to go,' he said.

The G20 groups the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Britain and Canada, the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.

IMF and World Bank officials are also expected to attend the Washington summit hosted by US President George W. Bush in an effort to work out strategies to fight the global financial meltdown.

The White House says it expects the talks to yield 'some quite concrete results', but the impact of the gathering is weakened by Mr Bush's reduced clout ahead of US president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan 20. -- AFP