|Group of Eight|
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 seizure of Crimea. In 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[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 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 of 1975 in France.
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).
|Millions of people||%||Billions of dollars||%|
Source: World Development Report 2006, World Bank
References[change | change source]
- "G8 summit 'won't be held in Russia'". 24 March 2014 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- Correspondent, By Jim Acosta, CNN Senior White House. "U.S., other powers kick Russia out of G8 - CNNPolitics". CNN.
- Smale, Alison; Shear, Michael D. (24 March 2014). "Russia Is Ousted From Group of 8 by U.S. and Allies" – via NYTimes.com.
- Feldman, Adam. "What's Wrong With The G-8," Forbes. July 7, 2008; retrieved 2012-3-16.
- Hajnal, Peter I. (1999). The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation, p. 30.
- 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.
- "Halifax G7 Summit 1995". Chebucto.ns.ca. 2000-05-28. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
- 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.
- "Denver Summit of the Eight". State.gov. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. 1998-12-12. Archived from the original on 1998-12-12. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- "1999 G8 summit documents". Web.archive.org. 2005-02-26. Archived from the original on 2005-02-26. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
- "Kyushu-Okinawa Summit". MOFA. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- "Vertice di Genova 2001". Web.archive.org. 2001-08-06. Archived from the original on 2001-08-06. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- "UT G8 Info. Centre. Kananaskis Summit 2002. Summit Contents". G8.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- "Sea Island Summit 2004". Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- "Special Reports | G8_Gleneagles". BBC News. 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- "Hokkaido Toyako Summit – TOP". Mofa.go.jp. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- "Canada's G8 Plans" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-06-27.
- "Prime Minister of Canada: Prime Minister announces Canada to host 2010 G8 Summit in Huntsville". Pm.gc.ca. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- "2010 Muskoka Summit". Canadainternational.gc.ca. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- "Le prochain G20 aura lieu à Cannes," Le point. November 12, 2010.
- The City of Deauville Official 2011 G8 website. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- "Home – French Presidency of the G-8". G20-g8.com. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- "2012 G8 Summit Relocation". www.g8.utoronto.ca.
- "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]
- 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