G8

(suspended)

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. On March 24, 2014, all seven member nations voted to suspend Russia from the G-8. The meeting was held in Brussels instead, and the G8 will be called G7 since there are now seven leaders.

Overview
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
The annual meeting of G8 leaders is attended by the heads of governmentFeldman, Adam. "What's Wrong With The G-8,"  Forbes. July 7, 2008; retrieved 2012-3-16. 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.Hajnal, Peter I. (1999). The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation, p. 30.

  Date  Host country Host leader  Location held  Website  Notes 1st  November 15–17, 1975    Valéry Giscard d'Estaing  Rambouillet (Castle of Rambouillet)   G6 Summit 2nd  June 27–28, 1976    Gerald R. Ford  Dorado, Puerto RicoShabecoff, 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.   Canada joins the group, forming the G7 3rd  May 7–8, 1977    James Callaghan  London   President of the European Commission is invited to join the annual G7 summits 4th  July 16–17, 1978    Helmut Schmidt Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia   5th  June 28–29, 1979    Masayoshi Ōhira  Tokyo   6th  June 22–23, 1980   Francesco Cossiga  Venice   7th  July 20–21, 1981    Pierre E. Trudeau  Montebello, Quebec   8th  June 4–6, 1982   François Mitterrand  Versailles   9th  May 28–30, 1983  Ronald Reagan  Williamsburg, Virginia   10th  June 7–9, 1984   Margaret Thatcher  London   11th  May 2–4, 1985   Helmut Kohl Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia   12th  May 4–6, 1986   Yasuhiro Nakasone  Tokyo   13th  June 8–10, 1987  Amintore Fanfani Venice   14th  June 19–21, 1988   Brian Mulroney Toronto   15th  July 14–16, 1989   François Mitterrand Paris   16th  July 9–11, 1990  George H. W. Bush  Houston, Texas   17th  July 15–17, 1991  John MajorLondon   18th  July 6–8, 1992   Helmut Kohl  Munich, Bavaria   19th  July 7–9, 1993   Kiichi Miyazawa  Tokyo   20th  July 8–10, 1994  Silvio Berlusconi Naples   21st  June 15–17, 1995   Jean Chrétien  Halifax, Nova Scotia    22nd  June 27–29, 1996   Jacques Chirac  Lyon   International organizations which are invited include: United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization.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. 23rd  June 20–22, 1997  Bill Clinton Denver, Colorado  Russia joins the group, forming G8 24th  May 15–17, 1998  Tony Blair  Birmingham, England  25th  June 18–20, 1999  Gerhard Schröder Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia    26th  July 21–23, 2000   Yoshiro Mori Nago, Okinawa  27th  July 20–22, 2001   Silvio Berlusconi  Genoa    28th  June 26–27, 2002  Jean Chrétien Kananaskis, Alberta  29th  June 2–3, 2003   Jacques Chirac Évian-les-Bains  30th  June 8–10, 2004  George W. Bush  Sea Island, Georgia   31st  July 6–8, 2005   Tony Blair  Gleneagles, Scotland  32nd  July 15–17, 2006   Vladimir Putin Strelna, St. Petersburg  33rd  June 6–8, 2007    Angela Merkel  Heiligendamm, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern  34th  July 7–9, 2008  Yasuo Fukuda Toyako (Lake Toya), Hokkaido  35th  July 8–10, 2009    Silvio Berlusconi  L'Aquila, Abruzzo  36th  June 25–26, 2010    Stephen Harper  Huntsville, Ontario   37th  May 26–27, 2011    Nicolas Sarkozy  Deauville,"Le prochain G20 aura lieu à Cannes," Le point. November 12, 2010.The City of Deauville  Official 2011 G8 website. Retrieved February 7, 2011. Basse-Normandie    38th  May 18–19, 2012    Barack Obama  Camp David   39th  June 17-18, 2013    David Cameron  Enniskillen, Northern Ireland   40th (suspended) 2014    Vladimir Putin  Moscow  Cancelled; Russia is suspended, restoring the organization to G741stJune 4-5, 2015Angela MerkelSchloss Elmau, Garmisch, Bavaria42ndMay 26-27, 2016Shinzō AbeShima, Mie Prefecture43rdMay 26–27, 2017Paolo GentiloniTaormina, Sicily44thJune 8-9, 2018Justin TrudeauCharlevoix, Quebec

 Economic power 
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%World6345.1100.039833.6100.0 United States350.54.612179.930.7 Japan127.82.04749.911.9 Germany82.61.32749.06.3 United Kingdom59.40.92136.45.2 France60.00.91858.74.7 Italy57.60.91503.63.8 Canada31.90.5905.62.3 Russia142.82.3487.31.2G8855.613.526270.466.1
Source: World Development Report 2006, World Bank

References

Other page
 World Economic Forum

Other websites
 G8 research group, "G8 Research Group's Information Centre" , utoronto.ca
 "Special Report: G8", Guardian Unlimited
 "Profile: G8", BBC News
 "We are deeply concerned. Again", New Statesman, 4 July 2005, - G8 development concerns since 1977


Category:1975 establishments