Carr leaves G20 door open for Rudd Bob Carr has declined to say whether or not Kevin Rudd (pic) will attend the G20 leaders' summit. FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has declined to say whether or not Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will attend the G20 leaders' summit next week. Media reports suggest Mr Rudd might attend the first day of the economic summit, which is being held in St Petersburg on September 5 and 6, and fly back to Australia in time for the September 7 election. Asked if Mr Rudd would attend, Senator Carr said: "I leave that to the prime minister." Senator Carr also said reports Syria would be a key issue at the G20 summit were wrong. "The G20's role of course is not related to Syria but to the challenges of seeing the world economy continue to grow ... and that Australia is well placed to benefit from a revival of international economic growth," he said. St Petersburg is just over 22 hours flying time from Sydney. Former prime minister John Howard suspended his election campaigning in 2001 to attend a summit in China, when he consulted with US President George W Bush on the invasion of Afghanistan.