President Barack Obama will announce Friday that the once elite club of rich industrial nations known as the Group of Seven will be permanently replaced as a global forum for economic policy by the much broader Group of 20 that includes China, Brazil, India and other fast-growing developing countries, administration officials said Thursday. The move highlights the growing economic importance of Asia and some Latin American countries, particularly since the United States and many European countries have found their banking systems crippled by an economic crisis originating in excesses in the American mortgage market. For more than three decades, the main economic group has been the Group of Seven -- the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. During the Clinton years, Russia was gradually added, not because of the size of its economy, but to help integrate it with the West. Administration officials said that group would still meet twice a year to discuss security issues. But for practical purposes, the smaller group will become more like a dinner club that defers to the broader group on the economic issues that have dominated summit meetings for nearly three decades. The development, as Obama was hosting a summit meeting here for leaders of the Group of 20 nations, also highlighted the lingering disparity that separates the elite group of mostly Western powers from the mass of poorer nations. For all of Obama's talk about greater inclusiveness for countries like Brazil and China, the meeting in Pittsburgh remains dominated by the financial crisis that began in the United States and has primarily preoccuppied G-7 countries. The issue that many of the world's developing countries feel much more strongly about -- knocking down barriers to trade, especially in politically sensitive sectors like agriculture -- is barely likely to be part of the official discussions. Rather, the packed agenda includes proposals to raise capital requirements for financial institutions, rein in executive compensation and reduce imbalances between shop-till-you-drop countries like the United States and export behemoths like China, Germany and Japan. Though the huge expansion of global trade has been at the heart of 'global imbalances' that Obama officials say they want to address, European and Asian officials gathering here say they cannot tell whether Obama really wants to push for more open trade. He and his economic advisers have repeatedly warned against responding to the economic crisis by erecting barriers to imports. But global leaders, noting that Obama's words are not always in sync with his actions, wonder if the president is a free trader or a protectionist. 