The EU is a “nonenumerated” ninth member; represented by the presidents of the European Council and European Commission, the EU participates as an equal. The aggregate GDP of G8 states makes up some 50 percent of the global economy. The subject was revisited at the 2007 Heiligendamm summit, where an agreement among leaders on the need to tackle climate change was hailed as an important step forward.
In recent years, some have questioned whether the G8 continues to be useful or relevant, especially since the formation of the G20. Despite the fact it has no actual authority, critics believe the powerful members of the G8 organization could do more to address global problems that affect third world countries. A lot of complaints in the past have centered around the exclusion of representatives from emerging and developing nations. Critics point out these economies play an increasingly important role in the global marketplace yet continue to be shunned by the old guard.
Government activity
As the foremost economic and political power in the G8, the US is regarded as the dominant member of the group, although this position is not formally enshrined. The presidency of the G8 rotates between the group’s member nations on an annual basis. G8 members can agree on policies and can set objectives, but compliance with these is voluntary.
Including Other Nations in the G20
The G-7 meets every summer in whichever country holds the rotating, year-long presidency. Since the G8 was intended as a forum for like-minded democracies, Russia’s backsliding toward authoritarianism has raised concerns among human rights advocates. The issue took on added significance in 2013 as Russia continued to support Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime with arms, financing, and diplomatic clout at odds with the positions of other G8 members. The G8 members can agree on plans and set objectives but they can’t force anyone to agree with them.
Originally, the group was comprised of six original countries, with Canada added in 1976 and Russia in 1997. The first official summit was held in France in 1975, but a smaller, more informal group met in Washington, D.C two years earlier. Treasury Secretary George Shultz, who invited finance ministers from Germany, the UK, and France to meet at the White House, with the looming Middle East oil crisis a topic of serious concern. In 2005, British prime minister Tony Blair invited five leading emerging markets—Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa—to participate in the summit, but the “G8+5,” as it was called, was short-lived.
The forum is seen by many as an anachronism that, by failing to reflect the views of vast emerging economies such as India, Brazil, China, South Korea, and Mexico, some of which have surpassed G8 members in GDP, has rendered itself irrelevant. Neither Africa nor Latin America is represented in the body, and Brazilian president Lula da Silva said in 2009 that the G8 “doesn’t have any reason to exist.” “The opportunity for unscripted, unfiltered, unmediated conversation amongst the Pepperstone Forex Broker world leaders at summits is something that routinely is mentioned as absolutely essential for potential breakthroughs, true understanding, and meeting of minds,” Patrick says. In 1975, heads of governments became involved and they agreed to meet every year.
In 1999, in an effort to include developing countries and their economic concerns in the conversation about global issues, the G20 was formed. In addition to the eight original industrialized countries of the G8, the G20 added Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, and the European Union. An example of such a youth-led organization is the Young European Leadership association, which recruits and sends EU Delegates. The first G8 summit was held in 1997 after Russia formally joined the G7 group, and the last one was held in 2013. However, due to Crimea’s annexation by the Russian Federation, the other seven countries decided to hold a separate meeting without Russia as a G7 summit in Brussels, Belgium.
These so-called ministerial meetings include secretaries and ministers from each member country’s government, to discuss the topics of focus for the summit. Member nations wielded significant power, as their combined wealth and resources comprised roughly half of the entire global economy. Leaders from the G-8 nations, including presidents, prime ministers, cabinet members, and economic advisors, would assemble in this forum to exchange ideas, brainstorm solutions, and discuss innovative strategies that will benefit each individual nation, as well as the world as a whole. “G7” can refer to the member states in aggregate or to the annual summit meeting of the G7 heads of government. G7 ministers also meet throughout the year, such as the G7 finance ministers (who meet four times a year), G7 foreign ministers, or G7 environment ministers.
Why’s it called G8 and who’s in it?
“It began to be seen as patronizing and insulting that they weren’t actually there full-time,” Patrick says. The G8 is a forum that provides the opportunity for its members to co-operate in addressing global challenges. The standards it sets, commitments it makes and steps it takes aim to drive prosperity and economic growth all over the world. Prime Minister David Cameron has said that this year the G8 will return to its roots, creating the right environment for frank and open discussions to promote growth and address global economic problems. There will be a short declaration aimed at holding G8 leaders to account and ensuring that good intentions become vital actions to advance growth and prosperity across the world. The G8 summit (more accurately called the G7 since Russia’s removal), has no legal or political authority, but the topics it chooses to focus on can have an impact on world economies.
- There will be a short declaration aimed at holding G8 leaders to account and ensuring that good intentions become vital actions to advance growth and prosperity across the world.
- The leaders of these countries meet face-to-face at an annual summit that has become a focus of media attention and protest action.
- The G8 is a group of like-minded countries that share a belief in free enterprise as the best route to growth.
- Aid is often conditional on the respect for democracy and good governance in the recipient countries.
Membership
Nevertheless, G8 leaders strive to keep at least some of their encounters free from bureaucracy and ceremony. On the second day of their summit the leaders gather for an informal retreat, where they can talk without being encumbered by officials or the media. The workings of the G8 are a far cry from the “fireside chats” of the Library Group in the 1970s. Holed up behind fortress-like security, the delegates are accompanied by an army of officials. Elaborate preparations are made for their meetings, statements and photo-calls. With no headquarters, budget or permanent staff, the Group of Eight is an informal but exclusive body whose members set out to tackle global challenges through discussion and action.
“The G8 no longer accommodates the world’s biggest or most dynamic economies; the G8 no longer accounts for all the world’s nuclear weapons; the G8 doesn’t speak for any particular identity or values—with Russia in the fold, it’s hardly a champion of democracy,” Time’s Ishaan Tharoor wrote in 2011. He is among the critics who believe that, like the UN Security Council, the G8 reflects an outdated, Western-centric view of the global distribution of power. Recent summits have seen big protests and sometimes violence, meaning security is very high. The leaders of these countries take it in turns to be president of the G8, with the leader of the host country acting as the president that year. The leaders of the countries meet every year in a different member country.
Conceived in 1973 as a forum for world leaders, the G8 has, for the most part, been replaced by the G20 forum since about 2008. Following 1994’s G7 summit in Naples, Russian officials held separate meetings with leaders of the G7 after the group’s summits. This informal arrangement was dubbed the Political 8 (P8)—or, colloquially, the G7+1.
Over the years, new members joined, starting with Canada in 1976 exness company review and then Russia in 1997. This lineup of eight countries remained active for 17 years until Russia was expelled in 2014. The group’s members occasionally worked together to help resolve global problems.
