At Thursday's G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, much of the focus is almost certain to be on Syria. Analysts are urging that developmental issues, especially in Africa, should also take centre stage.
G20 leaders will gather in Russia this week, but the meeting is likely to be overshadowed by concerns over a possible U.S.-led attack on Syria. Analysts say it's unfortunate as leaders seem to be making progress on furthering the developmental agenda, especially in Africa.
"What the G20 will discuss is the so-called development agenda which is fairly wide but things like infrastructure for instance will be under discussion, how to raise more finance - innovative financing, issues like financial inclusion," said Peter Draper, senior researcher at S. African Insititute of Int'l Affairs.
Most African countries are growing at a rate of over 5 percent. But social and economic inequalities still plague the continent.
"Looking at economic growth - for it to be more sustainable and more inclusive it has to look at policies to address inequality in order to overcome some of the slow growth issues and dealing with issues of poverty," said Oxfam Governance Advisor Marianne Goldman.
Tensions over Syria are already being felt on world markets. Emerging markets are also taking strain on concerns that the U.S. may stop its quantitative easing policy.
"Growth in countries like China will slow which means less demand for commodities, which means slower growth for African exports, which means slower domestic growth. It also means potential balance of payments problems," Draper said.
The 8th G20 meeting will kick off later this week with the agenda set to focus on developing policies aimed at improving sustainable, inclusive and balanced growth, and lifting employment around the world.
But it remains to be seen just how unified leaders will be in their discussion as they're already divided on the prospect of military intervention in Syria, an issue that's likely to drag out and, according to analysts, could cause another global economic crisis.