World leaders gather for G20 summit in Australia By Ted Thornhill for MailOnline and Associated Press The atmosphere ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane has been decidedly friendly with Angela Merkel finding time to pet a kiwi chick and Barack Obama hugging Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott, meanwhile, arrived at Brisbane airport together and gave a cheery wave as they disembarked from their plane. The mood will undoubtedly change this weekend, however, as the leaders get down to business. New Zealand Department of Conservation Ranger Hazel Speed holds a Kiwi chick named Whau as German Chancellor Angela Merkel pats the endangered, flightless bird, on Mototapu Island ahead of the G20 summit Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key also patted the kiwi U.S. President Barack Obama puts his arm around Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi after a joint press conference following their meeting at her residence in Yangon Obama hugs Aung San Suu Kyi during the joint press conference at her residence British Prime Minister David Cameron, left, and Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott wave as they arrive at the Brisbane airport ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane David Cameron meets Queensland's Premier Campbell Newman (third left) and Lisa Newman (second left) with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott (right) at G20 Terminal in Brisbane Cameron and Abbott leave the House of Representatives at Parliament House on Friday The annual G20 summit that groups democrats with authoritarians and rich nations with poor has long suffered from a perception it's all talk and no action. This year, leaders are under extra pressure to produce something tangible. The global forum is regarded as having been at its most successful during its first summit in 2008 when an alarming financial crisis that was nursed into being on Wall Street rippled around the world, toppling giant banks and casting tens of millions out of work. Since then, the gathering has been criticized as having produced a lot of lofty goals, but little follow-through despite its member countries representing about 85 percent of the global economy. David Cameron places a poppy along the Roll of Honour in the cloisters at the Australian War Memorial on Friday David Cameron (left) walks along the Roll of Honour in the cloisters with the Australian Minister for Defence David Johnston (second left), Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Brendan Nelson, Director of the Australian War Memorial (second right) and Memorial Chairman Rear Admiral Ken Doolan (right) at the Australian War Memorial Cameron inspects an honor guard as he arrives at Parliament House in Canberra David Cameron lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Friday As well as making her acquaintance with a kiwi, Angela Merkel received a Welcome Ceremony at Government House Auckland during her visit to New Zealand on Friday Prompting pressure for tangible results at the Group of 20's Brisbane summit this weekend, experts say, are comments from the International Monetary Fund warning about a 'new mediocre' for the global economy, with Europe teetering on the brink of recession, China's growth slowing and Japan in a malaise. 'What the world really needs is a little burst of confidence,' said Mike Callaghan, Program Director of the G20 Studies Center at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank. There is the pressure on the G-20 to provide signs of confidence that the countries are cooperating together. One concrete measure of the G-20's success could come from its previously announced goal of creating tens of millions of new jobs by adding $2 trillion to global GDP over five years. Prior summits have shied away from setting such targets because of concerns that the G-20's credibility could be attacked if the targets were not achieved. Australia, as this year's chair of the G20, has been determined to give the forum new relevance, an outcome that would burnish its credentials and image on the world stage. But details of exactly how the nations will reach the growth target remain sketchy. Australian Treasurer and summit host Joe Hockey said the group agreed to focus on growth led by private business and industry, particularly from additional investment in infrastructure, to get the job done. Each country is expected to present a comprehensive growth strategy at the summit. A challenge, however, is that the goals require implementation over many years and that requires prolonged political momentum. Police patrol amongst swimmers at the Southbank precinct where the G20 Leader's Summit will be held in Brisbane An armoured police truck on patrol in Brisbane ahead of the G20 summit Security measures: A police car on a barricade on Friday in Brisbane Activists wearing heads depicting Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron pose for pictures on Friday in Brisbane The global forum is regarded as having been at its most successful during its first summit in 2008 when an alarming financial crisis that was nursed into being on Wall Street rippled around the world, toppling giant banks and casting tens of millions out of work The annual G20 summit that groups democrats with authoritarians and rich nations with poor has long suffered from a perception it's all talk and no action People look at a giant security fence surrounding the Southbank precinct where the G20 Summit will be held Police divers search the waters surrounding the venue of the summit Anonymous activists meet in inner Brisbane wearing Guy Fawkes masks, an item that has been banned during the G20 Summit Demonstrators in Brisbane gather to protest the deaths of indigenous Australians while in custody Aboriginal protesters make their point in Brisbane A demonstrator raises his shackled hands during a protest about the deaths of indigenous Australians while in jail Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott (rear, centre) addresses the B20 meeting before the G20 leaders summit in Brisbane Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto (centre) greets Tony Abbott at the B20 meeting Obama takes part in a civil society roundtable discussion at the US Embassy in Yangon on Friday 'When you're all facing an immediate crisis, it's a lot easier to focus the mind and be able to agree on what you need to do,' Callaghan said. 'In Brisbane, what is invariably needed is some good evidence that these major countries are actually cooperating to improve the global outlook and it isn't just talk.' A second barrier is the widely divergent interests of countries in a club that includes a superpower, the United States; giant but very poor states such as India and governments that are often at loggerheads with each other such as China and Japan. Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong, said it will be crucial for the G-20 to put in a place a reporting system that allows the progress of each country to be measured. He said that could allow for 'public opinion pressure' on the countries that deviate from the targets and is the 'real important issue' at stake during the weekend summit. The OECD said on Friday the plans of G20 nations to boost the world economy could beat their target of adding two percentage points to global growth by 2018, though geopolitical risks such as Ukraine and Ebola were mounting. Angel Gurria, the secretary-general of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said that the more than 1,000 measures proposed since February would exceed the target, over the next five years, if implemented. 'Yes, if you take all the commitments and you assume they are going to execute impeccably, then ... it could take us beyond the 2 percent,' Gurria told Reuters in Brisbane ahead of the G20 Leaders Summit. In September, Joe Hockey, treasurer of G20 host Australia, said the total had reached 1.8 percent. The OECD and International Monetary Fund measure and monitor national growth strategies that will be unveiled at the end of the G20 Leaders Summit on Sunday. Enrique Pena Nieto, President of Mexico, arrives with his wife Angelica Rivera at Brisbane Airport Mr Pena Nieto and Ms Rivera met in 2008 when he was the Governor of the State of Mexico and she joined his campaign Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) is the first Indian leader to visit Australia in 28 years Mr Modi arrives at Brisbane Airport to attend the G20 Leader's Summit on Friday We have run out of monetary policy room, we have run out of fiscal policy room. What is left is structural reform and this is a structural reform agenda as big as it gets,' Gurria said. The biggest risk to the global economy was an absence of reforms but other issues were mounting, he said. You now have some threats, geopolitical, the problems in Russia-Ukraine, the Middle East and now this Ebola is threatening...this is adding to already rather uncertain situation that we have. The OECD and G20 are both pushing to crack down on tax evasion, a key objective for the Leaders summit. Finance ministers and tax chiefs from 51 countries last month signed an agreement to automatically swap tax information in a bid to curb tax evasion via secret bank accounts. Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD's Center for Tax Policy and Administration, said a financial task force will deliver a commitment to G20 leaders to share information on multinational bank accounts from all financial centres except four: Panama, Cook Island, Vanuatu and Bahrain. 'Among them, Panama is the most significant financial centre,' Saint-Amans said. Gurria said that while much had been done to tackle tax evasion by individuals, more progress was needed on corporate tax. What about the multinationals? They're not paying taxes because they are using the legal structures we've created over 80 years to avoid double taxation and we have created perfect double non-taxation. We need to reverse that,' he said. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz (centre) after arriving in Brisbane The Brazilian leader emerges from her plane on Thursday night Shinzo Abe is welcomed by Queensland's Premier Campbell Newman (right) and Attorney-General George Brandis (centre) Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is underlining his presence at the summit by stationing warships in waters off the country's northeastern coast, prompting the Australian prime minister to angrily accuse Russia of trying to reclaim the 'lost glories' of the Soviet Union. The diplomatic drama, which has been simmering since a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over an area of Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists in July, threatened to overshadow Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's goal of keeping this weekend's G20 summit focused on economic growth. But Abbott, who had previously said he would physically confront the Russian president over the Flight 17 disaster that killed 298 people, including 38 Australian citizens and residents, did little to dampen tensions with his latest critique of Putin's Russia. In recent days, four Russian warships have entered international waters off the northeast Australian coast to coincide with Putin's visit to Australia for the summit that brings together the leaders of the world's 20 biggest industrialized and developing economies. Australia, in turn, sent three warships of its own to monitor them. The Russian embassy said on Friday that Russia's Pacific fleet was testing its range, and could be used as security for Putin. Abbott was not impressed. 'Russia is being much more assertive now than it has been for a very long time,' he said at a press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, also in Australia for the summit. 'Interestingly, Russia's economy is declining even as Russia's assertiveness is increasing.' The prime minister, who met with Putin earlier this week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing, aired details of his conversation with the Russian leader. One of the points that I tried to make to President Putin is that Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a superpower for peace and freedom and prosperity ... instead of trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union.