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* [http://www.g8.utoronto.ca G8 Information Centre]
* [http://www.g8.utoronto.ca G8 Information Centre]
* [http://www.parliament.uk/ImageVault/Images/storage_Edited/filename_Y1Lv-YZwOlkcVJm7eBHn.jpg/id_6214/ImageVaultHandler.aspx Graphic: G20 is not simply the 20 largest economies]
* [http://www.parliament.uk/ImageVault/Images/storage_Edited/filename_Y1Lv-YZwOlkcVJm7eBHn.jpg/id_6214/ImageVaultHandler.aspx Graphic: G20 is not simply the 20 largest economies]
* [http://www.g20-g8.com/g8-g20/g8/english/home.18.html Official website]. NB: No official website is created for any G7 summit prior to 1995 -- ''see'' the [[21st G7 summit#Accomplishments|21st G7 summit]].
* [http://www.g20-g8.com/ Official website].
* [[University of Toronto]]: [[G8 Research Group]], [http://www.g8.utoronto.ca G8 Information Centre]
* [[University of Toronto]]: [[G8 Research Group]], [http://www.g8.utoronto.ca G8 Information Centre]


Revision as of 13:02, 21 February 2011

37th G8 summit
Host countryFrance
Dates26-27 May

The 37th G8 summit is to be held May 26-27 in the commune of Deauville in France.[1]

Previous G8 summits have been hosted by France in locations which include Rambouillet (1975); Versailles (1982); Grande Arche, Paris (1989); Lyon (1996); and Évian-les-Bains (2003).[2]

Overview

The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada starting in 1976. The G8, meeting for the first time in 1997, was formed with the addition of Russia.[3] In addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally included in summits since 1981.[4] The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's President Giscard d'Estaing and Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the initial summit of the Group of Six (G6) in 1975.[5]

The G8 summits during the twenty-first century have inspired widespread debates, protests and demonstrations; and the two- or three-day event becomes more than the sum of its parts, elevating the participants, the issues and the venue as focal points for activist pressure.[6]

The form and functions of the G8 were reevaluated as the G-20 summits evolved into the premier forum for discussing, planning and monitoring international economic cooperation.[7] The "new G8" is refocusing on the subjects of common interest to the G8 countries, geopolitical and security issues.[2]

The forum is in a process of transformation.[8]

Leaders at the summit

The G8 is an unofficial annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.[4]

Core G8 participants

These summit participants are the current "core members" of the international forum:[9]

Invited leaders

A number of national leaders are traditionally invited to attend the summit.[2] These invitees participate in some, but not all, G8 summit activities. This year, invitees include:

Heads of international organizations and institutions

Leaders of the major international organizations have also been invited to attend previous summit meetings;[2] and this practice is expected to continue, including:

Priorities

Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda for negotiations, which take place primarily amongst multi-national civil servants in the weeks before the summit itself, leading to a joint declaration which all countries can agree to sign.

Issues

The summit was intended as a venue for resolving differences among its members. As a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions.[5]

Schedule and Agenda

A tentative agenda for the 37th G8 summit will include some issues which remain unresolved from previous summits, including calls for more concrete action and measures, not just principles and rhetoric -- not just another "talk shop."[19]

In early planning, French priorities for the G8 included:

Citizens' responses and authorities' counter-responses

Protesters and demonstrations

Protest groups and other activists are expected to make a showing at the summit. In anticipation, Reuters reported that President Sarkozy has signaled a pause in reforms during 2011; and this gesture is intendeded to avert or mitigate major protests against his policies during a G8 or G20 meeting.[28]

Citizen journalism

Citizens' groups are expected to organize citizen journalism centers to provide independent media coverage of the G8 summit and the expected protests. In a sense, this article will evolve as the work product of something like citizen journalism, evovlving through serial drafts as part of "the first rough draft of history."[29]

Accomplishments

The G8 summit is an international event which is observed and reported by news media, but the G8's continuing relevance after more than 30 years has become somewhat unclear[30] -- and the prospective accomplishments of the 37th G8 summit remain unclear as well.

The G8 summit brings leaders together not so they can dream up quick fixes, but to talk and think about them together[31] and the international media is expected to focus on questions about what the summit does manage to accomplish.

Infrastructure Consortium for Africa

The Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA) was established at the 31st G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland in the United Kingdom in 2005. Since that time, the ICA’s annual meeting is traditionally hosted by the country holding the Presidency of the G8 -- in 2011 in France.[32]

Security

Security planning is designed to ensure that the summit's formal agenda can remain the primary focus of the attendees' discussions. Pre-planning will likely involve conducting security reviews of the area and event.

Budget

When President Sarkozy announced that Nice would be the site of the 2011 G8/G20 summits, he mentioned the projected costs. Sarkozy predicted that the Nice events will cost "ten times less" than the cost of the Canadian summits.[33]

Business opportunity

For some, the G8 summit becomes a profit-generating event; as for example, the G8 Summit magazines which have been published under the auspices of the host nations for distribution to all attendees since 1998.[34]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Présidence française du G20 et du G8, Dossier de presse,p. 27; excerpt, Le sommet du G8 aura lieu les 26 et 27 mai à Deauville (The G8 summit will take place on May, 26th and 27th in Deauville); "Le prochain G20 aura lieu à Cannes," Le point (France). November 12, 2010; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k G20/G8 2011 official site, What is G8?; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  3. ^ Parliament (UK), "G20 rises, G7 & G8 fall?"; see G8 + G20 + BRICs represented in relational graphic at bottom of page; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  4. ^ a b "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?" Reuters (UK), July 3, 2008; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  5. ^ a b Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations, p. 205.
  6. ^ "Influencing Policy on International Development: G8," BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development). 2008; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  7. ^ Parliament (UK): Townsend, Ian. "G20 & the November 2010 Seoul summit" (SN/EP/5028), 19 October 2010; excerpt, "Today, we designated the G-20 as the premier forum for our international economic cooperation" citing "Pittsburgh G20 Leaders’ summit communiqué," 25 Sep 2009, paragraph 50.
  8. ^ Congressional Record Service, R40977: Nelson, Rebecca M. "Implications of the transition from G-7 to G20," pp. 22-26. The G-20 and International Economic Cooperation: Background and Implications for Congress, December 9, 2009; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  9. ^ Rieffel, Lex. "Regional Voices in Global Governance: Looking to 2010 (Part IV)," Brookings (US). March 27, 2009; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  10. ^ Canada, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  11. ^ France, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  12. ^ Germany, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  13. ^ Italy, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  14. ^ Japan, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  15. ^ Russia, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  16. ^ United Kingdom, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  17. ^ United States, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  18. ^ European Union, G8/2011 official site; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  19. ^ Kaur, Hardev. "G20 leaders must deliver on their promises," The New Straits Times (Malaysia). February 20, 2009.
  20. ^ Afghanisatan, G8/2011 official website; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  21. ^ G8 + BMENA, G8/2011 official website; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  22. ^ Internet challenges, G8/2011 official website; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  23. ^ Non-proliferation/WMDs, G8/2011 official website; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  24. ^ G8 + Partnership with Africa, G8/2011 official website; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  25. ^ Cocaine trafficking, G8/2011 official website; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  26. ^ Counter-terrorism, G8/2011 official website; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  27. ^ Political and security issues, G8/2011 official website; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  28. ^ Crispian Balmer and Kevin Liffey. "Q+A: Election defeat poses problems for Sarkozy," Reuters (UK). March 21, 2010; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  29. ^ Braiker, Brian. "History's New First Draft," Newsweek (New York). July 8, 2008; retrieved 13 Feb 2011; compare Ralph Keyes: The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and when, p. 107.
  30. ^ Lee, Don. "On eve of summit, G-8's relevance is unclear," Los Angeles Times (US). July 6, 2008; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  31. ^ Feldman, Adam. "What's Wrong With The G-8," Forbes (US). July 7, 2008.
  32. ^ "Meeting to Discuss Crisis Impact in Africa's Infrastructure Development," Afrol News (Lesotho; Norway). March 2, 2009; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  33. ^ "Sarkozy says his G8/G20 will cost one-tenth of Canada’s," Globe and Mail (Canada). June 27, 2010;; retrieved 13 Feb 2011
  34. ^ Prestige Media: "official" G8 Summit magazine; retrieved 13 Feb 2011

References

Preceded by 37th G8 summit
2011
France 		Succeeded by
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