What is the G8?

Flags of participating nations blow in the wind over the meeting venue at the G8 summit site in L'Aquila, Italy on July 7, 2009.




Prime Minister Stephen Harper, third from right, walks off the stage following a photo with G8 leaders at the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, on July 9, 2009.






The G8 is commonly referred to as a group of the world's "most industrialized" economies, with a membership that includes Canada, the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.

You'll notice that the burgeoning economies of China and India are left out of this cozy group, as is any country from Africa or South America — one of the many reasons why the bigger G20 has eclipsed the G8 in importance and relevance in the last couple of years.

G8 members

Canada

France

Germany

Italy

Japan

Russia

United Kingdom

United States

European Union (attends but can't host or chair a summit)



In fact, the G20 has now officially become the main international forum where global economic issues are addressed.

But the G8 remains a key forum for many other political and social issues, including global security, climate change, international development, health, crime, and arms control.

Senior ministers and officials of G8 countries meet several times a year. Already this year, Canada (as host of the 2010 summit) has hosted a series of pre-G8 gatherings — including a meeting of foreign ministers in March in Gatineau, Que., an April meeting of G8 development ministers and senior officials in Halifax, and a pre-summit gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors in Iqaluit in February.

The G8 leaders themselves gather once a year. The 2010 edition is known as the Muskoka summit and will take place in Huntsville, Ont., on June 25 and 26.

Canada's 5th

This will be the fifth summit Canada has hosted, after Ottawa-Montebello in 1981, Toronto in 1988, Halifax in 1995 and Kananaskis, Alta., in 2002.

The responsibility of hosting the G8 summit rotates annually in the following order: France, the United States, the U.K., Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada. So the 2011 summit will take place in France (the sixth time it's played host).

The first G8 gathering (then known as the G6) took place in France in 1975 at the invitation of then French president Valéry Giscard D'Estaing.

Back then, the agenda's focus was on one issue — how to deal with the oil crisis that was playing havoc with the world's biggest economies. Canada joined this exclusive club the following year at the summit in Puerto Rico.

The year after that — in 1977 — the European Community (now called the European Union) was invited to sit in as an observer. The EU now enjoys the privileges of G8 membership, but cannot host or chair a summit.

In 1998, Russia joined the G7, making it the G8.

The issues
Over the decades, the G6, G7, and G8 have tackled a broad range of social, economic and political issues. Past summit agendas have included attempts to increase aid to Africa, establishing a global fund to fight HIV/AIDS, debt relief for poor countries, and curbing the spread of infectious diseases.

Canada has definite priorities for the 2010 G8 summit. Prime Minister Stephen Harper signalled in 2009 that he saw the Muskoka summit as "a tremendous opportunity to advance the G8's work: to advocate for open markets and free trade at a time of economic turmoil."

He also said the June summit would be a chance to "insist on truly global action against global warming and to champion freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law."

Harper later served notice that Canada will propose a major new initiative to improve children's and maternal health in developing countries.

But when Ottawa revealed that its initiative would not provide any funding for abortion, international health and women's groups were quick to criticize, pointing out that several other G8 countries like the U.S. and Britain think access to safe abortion should be a part of any maternal health program.

On the security front, Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear ambitions, and North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship in March will also be discussed.

The G8 countries are also expected to follow up on May's nuclear non-proliferation treaty conference and will discuss various anti-terrorism measures targeting money laundering and terrorism financing.

As with the G20, there are no formal votes taken at G8 summits. Summits end with the release of a communiqué, summarizing broad general areas of agreement and pointing to future goals the G8 leaders want to pursue.

The future
Whether it's considered a vital forum to exchange ideas or little more than a costly photo op (or a bit of both), the G8 process now attracts more questions about its relevance.

How can a group that represents less than half the world's economy and less than a quarter of its population adequately speak about something like global warming? That's one reason why host leaders routinely invite other non-member nations to join them.

As for the future, France said two years ago it would like China to become a permanent member before 2011 — something that would make the Muskoka summit the last one to have the "G8" moniker.