With the view to solve the economic crisis of the world the Group of Seven should be transformed into an expanded Steering Group to include rising economic states like India, the President of the World Bank Group Robert Zoellick has said.

"Countries matter. The G-7 is not working. We need a better group for a different time," Zoellick said at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

"For financial and economic cooperation, we should consider a new Steering Group including Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, in the G-7," he said.

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Such a Steering Group would bring together over 70 per cent of the worlds GDP... 62 per cent of its energy production, the major carbon emitters... and the primary players in global capital, commodity, and  exchange rate markets," he added.

However, he said the Group would not be a G-14. "We will not create a new world simply by remaking the old. It should be numberless, flexible, and over time, it could evolve.

"Others may be added, especially if their rising influence is matched by a willingness to help shoulder responsibilities" Zoellick added.

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and perhaps even the World Trade Organisation can lend its weight to this Steering Group from the outside but the sovereignity would be respected.

"We can identify emerging problems, supply analysis, suggest solutions, and draw on our own broader membership to propose coalitions to address issues" he said.

The Steering Group members will still need to work through established international institutions and regimes, which include other states, the Bank's president said.