24th G8 summit
24th G8 summit | |
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![]() 24th G8 summit official logo | |
Host country | United Kingdom |
Dates | May 15–17, 1998 |
Follows | 23rd G8 summit |
Precedes | 25th G8 summit |
The 24th G8 Summit was held in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom on May 15–17, 1998. The venue for this summit meeting was the International Convention Centre, Birmingham.[1]
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.[2] In addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally included in summits since 1981.[3] 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.[4]
Leaders at the Summit
![](../I/m/G8_Summit_Birmingham_1998.jpg)
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.[3]
Core G8 participants
These summit participants are the current "core members" of the international forum:[5]
Core G8 members Host nation and leader are indicated in bold text. | |||
Member | Represented by | Title | |
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Canada | Jean Chrétien [1] | Prime Minister |
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France | Jacques Chirac [1] | President |
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Germany | Helmut Kohl [1] | Chancellor |
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Italy | Romano Prodi [1] | Prime Minister |
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Japan | Ryutaro Hashimoto [1] | Prime Minister |
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Russia | Boris Yeltsin [1] | President |
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United Kingdom | Tony Blair [1] | Prime Minister |
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United States | Bill Clinton [1] | President |
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European Commission | Jacques Santer [6] | President |
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.[4]
Accomplishments
In 1998, the summit leaders proclaimed an "Action Program on Forests" with a pledge to report back on progress in 2000, but there is little evidence of follow-up action or program.[7]
Business opportunity
For some, the G8 summit became a profit-generating event; as for example, the official G8 Summit magazines which have been published under the auspices of the host nations for distribution to all attendees since 1998.[8]
Gallery
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Germany
Helmut Kohl, Chancellor
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): Summit Meetings in the Past.
- ↑ Saunders, Doug. "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," Globe and Mail (Toronto).5 July 2008.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Reuters: "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?", 3 July 2008.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations, p. 205.
- ↑ Rieffel, Lex. "Regional Voices in Global Governance: Looking to 2010 (Part IV)," Brookings. 27 March 2009; "core" members (Muskoka 2010 G-8, official site).
- ↑ MOFA: Summit (24); G8 Research Group: Delegations; "EU and the G8"
- ↑ Sadruddin, Aga Khan. "It's Time to Save the Forests," The New York Times 19 July 2000.
- ↑ Prestige Media: "official" G8 Summit magazine
References
- Bayne, Nicholas and Robert D. Putnam. (2000). Hanging in There: The G7 and G8 Summit in Maturity and Renewal. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0-7546-1185-X; ISBN 978-0-7546-1185-1; OCLC 43186692
- Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16486-9; ISBN 978-0-415-16486-3; ISBN 978-0-203-45085-7; ISBN 0-203-45085-X; OCLC 39013643
External links
- Official G8 website: Birmingham summit, 1998; n.b., no official website is created for any G7 summit prior to 1995 — see the 21st G7 summit.
- University of Toronto: G8 Research Group, G8 Information Centre