G8 Countries and the 2010 Summit

The Group of Eight (G8, and formerly the G6 or Group of Six and also the G7 or Group of Seven) is a
forum, created by France in 1975, for governments of six countries in the world: France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1976, Canada joined the group (thus
creating the G7). In becoming the G8, the group added Russia in 1997. In addition, the European
Union is represented within the G8, but cannot host or chair. G8 can refer to the member states or
to the annual summit meeting of the G8 heads of government. The former term, G6, is now frequently
applied to the six most populous countries within the European Union. G8 ministers also meet
throughout the year, such as the G7/8 finance ministers (who meet four times a year), G8 foreign
ministers, or G8 environment ministers.
The purpose of the G8 is to have world leaders meet informally on economic and political issues facing
their individual countries and the international community as a whole.
Because of the cooperation and dialogue of the worlds leaders accomplished through the G8, it has
also attracted the attention of protestors. Probably the largest and most violent meeting was held in
Genoa, Italy, in 2001, where an anti-capitalist protestor was shot and killed while hundreds of others
were injured during a clash with police. In subsequent years the G8 has tried to open discussions with
non-governmental organizations and include other developing nations.
The G8 meeting hosted by Britain in Perthshire, Scotland, was interrupted by terrorist attacks on
Londons transit system on July 7, 2005. Tony Blair, the host of the meeting, left for a brief time to
visit London while the other leaders remained to continue the discussion and agenda that was set. The
issue of global terrorism has been on the agenda most years since 1978.
Each calendar year, the responsibility of hosting the G8 rotates through the member states in the
following order: France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada.
The holder of the presidency sets the agenda, hosts the summit for that year, and determines which
ministerial meetings will take place. Lately, both France and the United Kingdom have expressed a
desire to expand the group to include five developing countries, referred to as the Outreach Five (O5)
or the Plus Five: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa. These countries have participated as
guests in previous meetings, which are sometimes called G8+5. This was created during the 2005
Gleneagles, Scotland summit that is attended by finance and energy ministers from all eight member
countries in addition to the five outreach countries.
With the G-20 major economies growing in stature since the 2008 Washington summit, world leaders
from the group announced at their Pittsburgh summit on September 25, 2009, that the group will
replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations
Structure of the G8

There is no administrative structure like those for international organizations, such as the United
Nations or the World Bank. The group does not have a permanent secretariat or offices for its
members.
The presidency of the group rotates annually among the member countries, with each new term
beginning on 1 January of the year. The country holding the presidency is responsible for planning and
hosting a series of ministerial-level meetings, leading up to a mid-year summit attended by the heads
of government. The president of the European Commission participates as an equal in all summit
events.
The ministerial meetings bring together ministers responsible for various portfolios to discuss issues of
mutual or global concern. The range of topics includes health, law enforcement, labor, economic and
social development, energy, environment, foreign affairs, justice and interior, terrorism, and trade.
In June 2005, justice ministers and interior ministers from the G8 countries agreed to launch an
international database on pedophiles. The G8 officials also agreed to pool data on terrorism, subject to
restrictions by privacy and security laws in individual countries.
G8 Summit 2010
The 36th G8 summit was held in Huntsville, Ontario, from June 2526, 2010. In this years meeting,
the G8 leaders agreed in reaffirming the groups essential and continuing role in international affairs
and assertions of new-found relevance.
This was the fifth G8 Summit hosted by Canada since 1976, the previous four being at Montebello,
Quebec (1981); Toronto, Ontario (1988); Halifax, Nova Scotia (1995); and Alberta (2002).
The Canadian government picked Huntsville, a small town of 20,000, to host the annual summit and
core meetings. Meetings took place at the Deerhurst Resort.
The late scheduling of a G20 summit in Toronto affected the G8 weekend in unanticipated ways. The
meeting came to be framed in the press as a preliminary meeting. The theme for this summit was
Recovery and New Beginning,
The G8 summit was an opportunity for a wide variety of non-governmental organizations, activists and
civic groups to congregate and discuss a multitude of issues; but the dramatic demonstrations at the
G20 summit in Toronto eclipsed protests primarily focused on the conferring G8 leaders.
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and its members has been involved in talking to
leaders from G8 countries to bring to their attention the unnecessary maternal, newborns and child
deaths worldwide. In 2008, a Call to Action for MNCH was led by The Partnership. In 2009, leaders
made a promise to address maternal, newborn, child and reproductive health. Through 2009 and

2010, The Partnership and its members have continued to further highlight the MNCH issues with G8
country leaders as well as the United Nations efforts and beyond.
In January, the host of the 2010 meeting, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, announced his
initiative on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH). The G8 Communique, released on 26 June
2010, outlines the details of this MNCH initiative.
July 5, 2010
The Canadian chairmanship of the G8, which met on 25th June in Huntsville, 200 miles north of
Toronto, decided to put this meeting under the banner of respect to their ODA (Official Development
Aid) commitments. Out of the additional $50 billion that the group of the most industrialized states on
the planet had promised to provide each year before 2010 at the 2005 summit in Gleneagles,
Scotland, 18 billion dollars are still missing.
The World Bank warned that a further reduction of aid may erase the progress made so far in
developing countries and push more people into poverty. It stressed that the resources of poorer
countries have also been undermined by the global economic crisis.
The Canadian chairmanship also wanted to discuss ways to involve major emerging economies in the
governance of the planet and has therefore decided to invite Africa to the summit in Huntsville.
Seven African countries Algeria, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Senegal were
invited by Canada. Canada decided to focus on two out of the eight Millennium Goals adopted in
2005 in order to fight against poverty in the world, including those related to maternal, newborn and
child health.
The United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities
(UNFPA) welcomed the commitment made by leaders of the eight most powerful economies in the
world to accelerate improvement of maternal, newborn and child health by creating a new fund, called
the Initiative Muskoka, named after the town where they attended the G8 meeting.
The UNICEF strongly supports the importance of the Muskoka initiative to strengthen health systems
in order to improve the health of mothers and children. The contributions should create more than five
billion dollars. The Muskoka Initiative aims to strengthen health systems, health services related to
reproduction and sexuality, family planning.
There is an urgent matter: the United Nations (UN) estimates that between ten and fifteen million
women are disabled due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Each year, more than one
million children are left motherless.
The host country, also wishing to address the issue of Haitis reconstruction after the devastating
earthquake of 12th January, invited Haitis representatives. Haiti, and two other southern countries,

Colombia and Jamaica, attended a working session of the G8 with African representatives on Friday
afternoon. The session was devoted to emerging security threats, including trafficking routes bound
for developing countries via West Africa that is becoming more and more a transit area.
Following the G8, the G20 took over on 26th June 2010 at the end of the day in Toronto. The summit
tackled the issue of exit strategies from the economic crisis, a source of differences between the U.S.
and its European allies. Regarding emerging countries, the G20 wants to rebalance global demand and
have more flexible exchange rates in some emerging countries.