G8 Countries: The Top Global Economic Powers
The summit is an opportunity for G8 leaders to have frank and open discussions about the important global issues of the day. In 2013 it will be the UK’s turn to shape the G8’s approach to these discussions with G8 leaders holding each other to account and agreeing concrete steps to advance growth and prosperity across the world. The Y8 Summit brings together young leaders from G8 nations and the European Union to facilitate discussions of international affairs, promote cross-cultural understanding, and build global friendships. The conference closely follows the formal negotiation procedures of the G8 Summit.[52] The Y8 Summit represents the innovative voice of young adults between the age of 18 and 35. At the end of the summit, the delegates jointly come up with a consensus-based[53] written statement, the Final Communiqué.[54] This document is subsequently presented to G8 leaders in order to inspire positive change. On the second day of the summit, leaders gather for an informal talk without lots of officials or the media.
In the past leaders have discussed issues such as peace in the Middle East, aid for the developing world and how to stop terrorism. The G8 summit is an annual meeting between leaders from eight of the most powerful countries in the world. The Group of Eight (G-8) was an assembly of the world’s largest developed economies that have established a position as pacesetters for the industrialized world.
Group of Eight, intergovernmental organization that originated in 1975 through informal summit meetings of the leaders of the world’s leading industrialized countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan). Canada did not attend the initial meeting in 1975, and the president of the European Commission joined the discussions in 1977. Beginning in 1994, Russia joined the discussions, and the group became known as the Group of 8 (G8) or the “Political Eight”; Russia officially became the eighth member in 1997. In March 2014 Russia precipitated an international crisis when it occupied and annexed Crimea, an autonomous republic of Ukraine.
The Group of Eight (G Industrialized Nations
Leaders of member countries, the United States, the United Kingdom (U.K.), Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, and until recently, Russia, meet periodically to address international economic and monetary issues. 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. The European Union is represented at the G8 by the president of the European Commission and by the leader of the country that holds the EU presidency. The six nations involved became known as the G6, and later the G7 and G8 after the respective entries of Canada (1976) and Russia (1998).
«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. The G8 summit (more accurately called the G7 since Russia’s removal), has no https://www.tradebot.online/ legal or political authority, but the topics it chooses to focus on can have an impact on world economies. The group’s president changes annually, and the meeting is held in the home country of that year’s leader. While there are no formal criteria for membership, member states are expected to be democracies and have highly developed economies.
The original Group of 7 (G7) responded by indefinitely suspending Russia’s membership in the group, effectively dissolving the larger G8. In addition to a meeting of the countries’ leaders, the G8 summit typically includes a series of planning and pre-summit discussions ahead of the main event. These so-called ministerial meetings include secretaries and ministers from each member country’s government, to discuss the topics of focus for the summit.
Focus of G8
Finance ministers and central bank governors continue to meet as the G7 to discuss matters of international economics; this group comprises all the G8 states except Russia. 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. 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. «It began to be seen as patronizing and insulting that they weren’t actually there full-time,» Patrick says.
- Nevertheless, G8 leaders strive to keep at least some of their encounters free from bureaucracy and ceremony.
- Though the G8 was set up as a forum for economic and trade matters, politics crept onto the agenda in the late 1970s.
- U.S. secretary of state John Kerry went a step further, saying that Russia «may not even remain in the G8 if this continues.»
- 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.»
- Other critics argue that the exclusivity of the group results in a focus on the needs of industrial at the expense of developing countries.
Russia held the G8 presidency for the first time in 2006 and will once again assume the presidency in 2014, with the summit set to be held in Sochi, a Black Sea resort city that was host to the 2014 Winter Olympics. When the group was formed in 1975, it was known as the G6, comprising France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The G6 was intended to provide major industrial powers of the noncommunist world a venue in which to address economic concerns, which at the time included inflation and the recession sparked by the oil crisis of the 1970s.
Which countries are part of the G-8?
Aid is often conditional on the respect for democracy and good governance in the recipient countries. Important countries with fast-growing economies and large populations, including China and India, are not represented. 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. The G8 has clout in other world bodies because of the economic and political muscle of its members.
The forum enables presidents and prime ministers, as well as their finance and foreign ministers, to candidly discuss pressing international issues. Its small and static membership, however, excludes emerging powers from important talks concerning the global economy and international security, and as an informal grouping, states have little leverage over other members with which to secure compliance on agreements beyond imposing reputational costs. In 1973 the world experienced its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The finance ministers of the USA, UK, France and West Germany met informally to talk about how they could solve the economic problems linked with the oil price shock. In 1974 Japan was invited to the meetings and in 1975 the French President brought these informal discussions to the leaders.
Global energy
Some have challenged the entire premise of the G8 on the basis of inefficacy—and irrelevance. «We are now living in a G-Zero world,» political risk analyst Ian Bremmer and economist Nouriel Roubini have written. Policy proposals are hammered out at ministerial meetings that precede the annual summit.
The G8’s positive stance on globalisation has provoked a vigorous response from opponents, and riots have sometimes overshadowed summit agendas, most notably in Italy in 2001. 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. Recent summits have seen big protests and sometimes violence, meaning security is very high. In 1975, heads of governments became involved and they agreed to meet every year. 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.
Though it inititally included only four member countries (the US, UK, West Germany, and France), it quickly added Japan, Italy, and Canada and became the Group of Seven (G7) in 1976. By design, the G8 deliberately lacked an administrative structure like those for international organizations, such as the United Nations or the World Bank. Russia was suspended from the group after other members disagreed with its annexation of Crimea, an autonomous republic of Ukraine. By 2017, Russia announced its intention to permanently withdraw from the G-8, bringing the number of active members down to seven. Critics contend the G8 reflects an outdated, Western-centric view of the global distribution of power.
