Putin walks past Obama at the G20 in St. Petersburg
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) walks past U.S. President Barack Obama (C) during a group photo at the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg September 6, 2013. At top left is British Prime Minister David Cameron. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard believes the current government may be missing the point as it intends to set a target for economic growth in the upcoming G20 summit in Brisbane in November. Reports said Prime Minister Tony Abbott has requested G20 leaders to present their plans to meet the 2 percent economic growth target.

The recent meeting of G20 finance ministers in Cairns discussed the proposals to help boost the global economy by 1.8 percent. Gillard, who secured the right to host the summit in Australia when she served as prime minister, said the important thing would be to "deal with the strengthening of the global economy," reports Sky News. She believed if she was still the prime minister, she would be looking at the G20 meeting as an opportunity to develop structural reforms within economies needed to stimulate global growth.

The former prime minister said the G20 has managed the emergency response to the global financial crisis. Gillard explained the meeting should not be all about "target setting" but should tackle options to boost global growth.

She also believes climate change should be part of the G20 agenda, unlike Mr Abbott who planned to prioritise other matters. The G20 meeting would be a good way to agree to a global arrangement in time for the UN climate meeting in Paris in 2015.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin is welcome to attend the G20 meeting contrary to initial claims that he will not be allowed to join. According to reports, Mr Putin will be invited to join the summit despite Australia's strong reaction to Russia's support for separatist rebels believed to be responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine.

As the host of summit, Australia had consulted with the other G20 leaders, and they decided to involved Mr Putin rather than shun him. Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey revealed the consensus position and said a Russian delegation is expected to attend the summit. Russia has recently sent a group to attend the G20 finance meeting in Cairnes over the weekend. Reports said if Mr Putin should decide not to ho himself, he can send Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in his place.