Before the group photo was taken, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed each guest separately, shaking hands and taking pictures with each of them.

Yet, Abe had to wait for more than 15 minutes for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was late to the greeting ceremony due to his bilateral meeting with his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa.

After the photos, the leaders of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States are expected to proceed to the first session of the summit.

Japan is hosting the meeting on Friday and Saturday for the first time since the G20 inaugural meeting convened in Berlin 20 years ago in response to the series of financial crises that hit emerging markets back in the late 1990s.