page_title: 38th G8 summit
section_title: Leaders at the summit
hierarchical_section_title: 38th G8 summit / Leaders at the summit
caption_attribution_description: English: President Barack Obama participates in a G8 Summit working session focused on global and economic issues, in the dining room of Laurel Cabin at Camp David, Md., May 19, 2012.
context_page_description: The 38th G8 summit was held in Camp David, Maryland, United States, on 18–19 May 2012.
  The event occurred just before the year's NATO summit. The G8 summit was moved from Chicago, where it was going to be held back-to-back with the NATO summit, possibly due to fears of a large convergence of protestors.
  This was the first summit since Russia joined the group in 1997 that was not attended by the President of Russia; former President and current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attended in place of the recently reelected Vladimir Putin, who cited domestic obligations as his reason for not attending, though some interpreted the gesture as a sign of rising tensions between Putin's government and the West.
context_section_description: The attendees include the eight core participants who make up the G8, as well as the European Union which is represented within the G8 but cannot host or chair summits. A number of other national leaders are also traditionally invited to attend the summit and to participate in some G8 summit activities, but none were invited this year.
  Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would not be attending the summit because he was "busy," amid concerns about the discord between Russia–United States relations. However, according to his economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich, Russia's participation would be "absolutely full-fledged" due to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's "huge experience working" at such events. Media speculation also arose that Putin was timing his first foreign visit since being re-elected for a visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
  The 38th G8 summit was the first summit for French President François Hollande and was the last summit for Dmitry Medvedev as the leader of Russia. It was also the first and only summit for Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
caption: G8 Summit working session focused on global and economic issues.
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