G8

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Group of Eight
Map of G8 member nations and the European Union
Map of G8 member nations and the European Union

 Canada

 France

 Germany

 Italy

 Japan

 Russia (suspended)[1]

 United Kingdom

 United States

 European Union

The Group of Eight (G8) was a group made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia (suspended), the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission is also represented in the committee. The group has conferences or meetings throughout the year, it researches policies, and has a summit meeting once a year. The heads of government of each G8 country attend the summit meeting.

Each year a different country takes over the presidency of the group for the duration of the year. The country that holds the presidency sets the agenda for the year and hosts the summit for that year. The first G6 meeting was in 1975. Canada joined in 1976, making G7. Russia made it G8 in 1997.

The organization's official 2014 summit was not held in Moscow as previously planned, due to the invasion and takeover of Crimea.[2] On March 24, 2014, all seven member nations voted to suspend Russia from the G-8.[3][4] The meeting was held in Brussels instead, and the G8 will be called G7 since there are now seven leaders.

Overview[change | change source]

The G8 is not considered an international organization because it does not have administrative structure. This means that besides the president, there are no official titles for the members, they are all considered equal. Their meetings are not formal. The goal is to talk about global topics and problems in a relaxed manner.

There are many global problems and issues that can be discussed at meetings. Some common topics of discussion include: health, law enforcement, labor, economic and social development, energy, environment, foreign affairs, justice, terrorism, and trade.

Yearly summit[change | change source]

The annual meeting of G8 leaders is attended by the heads of government[5] and other invited guests. It is usually held for three days in the middle of the year. Each year one of the G8 countries is considered the G8 president. The country of the G8 presidency is responsible for organizing and hosting a summit during that year. The first summit meeting was held in November 1975 in France.[6]

Date Host country Host leader Location held Website Notes
1st November 15–17, 1975  France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Rambouillet (Castle of Rambouillet) G6 Summit
2nd June 27–28, 1976  United States Gerald R. Ford Dorado, Puerto Rico[7] Canada joins the group, forming the G7[7]
3rd May 7–8, 1977  United Kingdom James Callaghan London President of the European Commission is invited to join the annual G7 summits
4th July 16–17, 1978  West Germany Helmut Schmidt Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia
5th June 28–29, 1979  Japan Masayoshi Ōhira Tokyo
6th June 22–23, 1980  Italy Francesco Cossiga Venice
7th July 20–21, 1981  Canada Pierre E. Trudeau Montebello, Quebec
8th June 4–6, 1982  France François Mitterrand Versailles
9th May 28–30, 1983  United States Ronald Reagan Williamsburg, Virginia
10th June 7–9, 1984  United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher London
11th May 2–4, 1985  West Germany Helmut Kohl Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia
12th May 4–6, 1986  Japan Yasuhiro Nakasone Tokyo
13th June 8–10, 1987  Italy Amintore Fanfani Venice
14th June 19–21, 1988  Canada Brian Mulroney Toronto
15th July 14–16, 1989  France François Mitterrand Paris
16th July 9–11, 1990  United States George H. W. Bush Houston, Texas
17th July 15–17, 1991  United Kingdom John Major London
18th July 6–8, 1992  Germany Helmut Kohl Munich, Bavaria
19th July 7–9, 1993  Japan Kiichi Miyazawa Tokyo
20th July 8–10, 1994  Italy Silvio Berlusconi Naples
21st June 15–17, 1995  Canada Jean Chrétien Halifax, Nova Scotia [8]
22nd June 27–29, 1996  France Jacques Chirac Lyon International organizations which are invited include: United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization.[9]
23rd June 20–22, 1997  United States Bill Clinton Denver, Colorado [10] Russia joins the group, forming G8
24th May 15–17, 1998  United Kingdom Tony Blair Birmingham, England [11]
25th June 18–20, 1999  Germany Gerhard Schröder Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia [12]
26th July 21–23, 2000  Japan Yoshiro Mori Nago, Okinawa [13]
27th July 20–22, 2001  Italy Silvio Berlusconi Genoa [14]
28th June 26–27, 2002  Canada Jean Chrétien Kananaskis, Alberta [15]
29th June 2–3, 2003  France Jacques Chirac Évian-les-Bains [16]
30th June 8–10, 2004  United States George W. Bush Sea Island, Georgia [17]
31st July 6–8, 2005  United Kingdom Tony Blair Gleneagles, Scotland [18]
32nd July 15–17, 2006  Russia Vladimir Putin Strelna, St. Petersburg [19]
33rd June 6–8, 2007  Germany Angela Merkel Heiligendamm, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern [20]
34th July 7–9, 2008  Japan Yasuo Fukuda Toyako (Lake Toya), Hokkaido [21]
35th July 8–10, 2009  Italy Silvio Berlusconi L'Aquila, Abruzzo [22]
36th June 25–26, 2010[23]  Canada Stephen Harper Huntsville, Ontario[24] [25]
37th May 26–27, 2011  France Nicolas Sarkozy Deauville,[26][27] Basse-Normandie [28]
38th May 18–19, 2012  United States Barack Obama Camp David[29]
39th June 17-18, 2013  United Kingdom David Cameron Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
40th (suspended) 2014  Russia Vladimir Putin Moscow[30] Cancelled; Russia is suspended, restoring the organization to G7
41st June 4-5, 2015  Germany Angela Merkel Schloss Elmau, Garmisch, Bavaria
42nd May 26-27, 2016  Japan Shinzō Abe Shima, Mie Prefecture
43rd May 26–27, 2017  Italy Paolo Gentiloni Taormina, Sicily
44rd June 8-9, 2018  Canada Justin Trudeau Charlevoix, Quebec

Economic power[change | change source]

The eight countries that make up the G8 represent about 14% of the people in the world but produce over 65% of the world's economic output measured by gross domestic product (GDP).

2004 Population GDP
  Millions of people % Billions of dollars %
World 6345.1 100.0 39833.6 100.0
United States United States 350.5 4.6 12179.9 30.7
Japan Japan 127.8 2.0 4749.9 11.9
Germany Germany 82.6 1.3 2749.0 6.3
United Kingdom United Kingdom 59.4 0.9 2136.4 5.2
France France 60.0 0.9 1858.7 4.7
Italy Italy 57.6 0.9 1503.6 3.8
Canada Canada 31.9 0.5 905.6 2.3
Russia Russia 142.8 2.3 487.3 1.2
G8 855.6 13.5 26270.4 66.1

Source: World Development Report 2006, World Bank

References[change | change source]

The 36th G8 summit in Huntsville, Ontario in Canada
The 38th G8 summit at Camp David in the US.
  1. "Russia just quit the G8 for good". Independent.co.uk. 13 January 2017.
  2. "G8 summit 'won't be held in Russia'". BBC News. 24 March 2014.
  3. Correspondent, By Jim Acosta, CNN Senior White House (24 March 2014). "U.S., other powers kick Russia out of G8 - CNNPolitics". CNN. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Smale, Alison; Shear, Michael D. (24 March 2014). "Russia Is Ousted From Group of 8 by U.S. and Allies". The New York Times.
  5. Feldman, Adam. "What's Wrong With The G-8," Archived 2008-10-25 at the Wayback Machine Forbes. July 7, 2008; retrieved 2012-3-16.
  6. Hajnal, Peter I. (1999). The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation, p. 30.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Shabecoff, Philip. "Go-Slow Policies Urged by Leaders in Economic Talks; Closing Statement Calls for Sustained Growth Coupled With Curbs on Inflation; Ford's Aims Realized; 7 Heads of Government Also Agree to Consider a New Body to Assist Italy Co-Slow Economic Policies Urged by 7 Leaders," New York Times. June 29, 1976; Chronology, June 1976. Archived 2010-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Halifax G7 Summit 1995". Chebucto.ns.ca. 2000-05-28. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  9. Kirton, John. "A Summit of Substantial Success: The Performance of the 2008 G8"; page 88 and 89 G8 Information Centre — University of Toronto July 17, 2008.
  10. "Denver Summit of the Eight". State.gov. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
  11. "Birmingham G8 Summit, UK, 1998". 1998-12-12. Archived from the original on 1998-12-12. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  12. "1999 G8 summit documents". 2005-02-26. Archived from the original on 2005-02-26. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  13. "Kyushu-Okinawa Summit". MOFA. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
  14. "Vertice di Genova 2001". 2001-08-06. Archived from the original on 2001-08-06. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
  15. "UT G8 Info. Centre. Kananaskis Summit 2002. Summit Contents". G8.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
  16. "G8 - Sommet Evian Summit 2003 - Home". Archived from the original on 2011-04-13. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  17. "Sea Island Summit 2004". Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
  18. "Special Reports | G8_Gleneagles". BBC News. 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
  19. "G8". Archived from the original on 2015-04-21. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  20. "G8 Summit 2007 Heiligendamm - G8 SUMMIT". www.g-8.de. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  21. "Hokkaido Toyako Summit – TOP". Mofa.go.jp. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
  22. "G8 Summit 2009 - official website - The Summit". Archived from the original on 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  23. "Canada's G8 Plans" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  24. "Prime Minister of Canada: Prime Minister announces Canada to host 2010 G8 Summit in Huntsville". Pm.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2010-02-08. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
  25. "2010 Muskoka Summit". Canadainternational.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2011-04-10. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  26. "Le prochain G20 aura lieu à Cannes," Le point. November 12, 2010.
  27. The City of Deauville Archived 2012-03-19 at the Wayback Machine Official 2011 G8 website. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
  28. "Home – French Presidency of the G-8". G20-g8.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  29. "2012 G8 Summit Relocation". www.g8.utoronto.ca.
  30. "Moscow likely to host G8 summit in 2014 – Dvorkovich". Interfax Europe Ltd. Retrieved 2012-02-17.

Other page[change | change source]

Other websites[change | change source]