37th G8 summit
The 37th G8 summit was held 26-27 May 2011 in the commune of Deauville in France.
History
The Deauville summit of the Group of Eight (G8) was the 37th meeting in a series which began in 1976.
Previous G8 summits have been hosted by France at Rambouillet (1975); Versailles (1982); Paris (1989); Lyon (1996); and Evian-les-Bains (2003).
The G8 and the summit are part of a consultation process. The G8 is not an international organization. It is an informal group.
Participants
These summit participants were the current "core members" of the G8:
Invited leaders
Other national leaders are traditionally invited to attend the summit. They participate in some, but not all, G8 summit activities. African leaders who came to Deauville included:
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President
Essam Sharaf, Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President
Abdoulaye Wade, President
Jacob Zuma, President
Beji Caid el Sebsi, Prime Minister
Also invited were:
Arab League Amr Moussa, Chairman
African Union (AU) Jean Ping, Chairman
New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General
Schedule and Agenda
Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda. French general priorities included peace and security.
Discussions included some issues which remained unresolved from previous summits.
Some of the specific topics on the agenda were:
Afghanistan;
G8 + Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA);
The Internet: new challenges
Non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction
The G8's Partnership with Africa
Transatlantic Cocaine Trafficking
Counter-terrorism
G8 political and security issues
World events caused the list of topics to grow, including
Fukushima nuclear accident
European debt crisis
Selection of a new managing director for the International Monetary Fund
Protesters and demonstrations
Protest groups and others organized public events. In these demonstrations, the slogan G8 degage ("G8 Go Away") was notable.
The demonstrators are widely understood to be against globalisation.
Business opportunity
According to the Mayor of Deauville, "Our main interest is the economic implications."
For some, the G8 summit became a profit-generating event. For example, the G8 Summit magazines have been published under the auspices of the host nations for distribution to all attendees since 1998.
Related pages
List of G8 summits
References
Other websites
University of Toronto: G8 Information Centre
G20-G8 France 2011 , official website
Parliament.uk, Graphic shows G8 in context
37
2011 in Europe
2010s in France