Since 1975, the Presidents of the Group of 7 (G7) industrialized countries have met annually to discuss collective approaches to global challenges. The presidency of the G7 has rotated among its membership: Japan, Italy, France, Germany, the U.K., Canada and the U.S.
Critics point to this assembly as the unelected, unrepresentative world government that excludes powerful economies and poor countries that are at the mercy of decisions driven by the G7 club. At present, the economies of China, India, Russia, Brazil and other emerging nations are increasingly setting the pace, and even overshadowing the slower growth of the United States, Europe and Japan, where the benefits of the expansion have eluded many workers.
In the Denver and Birmingham Summits in 1997 and 1998, respectively, Russia was ushered into the club in order to encourage its market economy and what appeared to be a nascent democracy. Hence, the G7 became the G8, even though Russia is still excluded from some of the financial and trade decisions of the club.
In its old imperial capital, St. Petersburg, from July 15-18, 2006, Russia will host the G8 Summit for the first time. Representatives from many non-G8 governments will also be present. As usual, there have been meetings during the last year that bring together ministers from the eight countries to address challenges in a variety of areas: e.g., health, law enforcement, labour, development, energy, environment, foreign affairs, justice and interior, terrorism and trade.
As is customary, Russia has chosen the three principal themes of the Summit: energy security, education and infectious diseases. Russia will take center stage as an energy superpower and, among other things, will work with the G8 (with the exception of Germany) to launch efforts to massively expand nuclear power. Other agenda themes include terrorism, human security and financing for development.
On a par with the theme of energy security, Summit members are likely to continue quarrelling about how to deal with the macroeconomic imbalances that threaten the stability of the global economy. In addition to the U.S., the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has rounded up China, the Euro zone, the U.K. and Saudi Arabia to address the continuing imbalances, reflected by the U.S.'s $805 billion current-account deficit and the massive surpluses of China and other Asian nations. According to the IMF, China's trade surplus doubled in 2005 to exceed 7 percent of gross domestic product. This is infuriating the U.S. Administration and Congress which claims that China gains an export advantage over the U.S. by maintaining an undervalued currency.
Saudi Arabia, as the world's largest oil exporter, with a current account surplus of 28% of GDP in 2005, will represent oil producing countries, which have accounted for the most rapidly growing surpluses over the past two years.
On broader economic issues, the Summit will address the downside risks to the world economy which is under threat from rising oil and interest rates.
For civil society, this year's G8 Summit will be an opportunity to review the promises made last year by the rich countries club. Civil society organisations have been pushing and demanding about pending issues for some time now, the main question is: Will the G8 deliver?
Source: Citizens'Network on Essential Services
