Who is in the Big Seven g7. "Big Eight"
The Big Seven (before the suspension of Russia's membership - the Big Eight) is an international club that does not have its own charter, treaty, secretariat or headquarters. Compared to the World Economic Forum, the G7 does not even have its own website or public relations department. It is not an official international organization; accordingly, its decisions are not subject to mandatory execution.
Tasks
As of early March 2014, the G8 countries include the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, the United States of America, Canada and Japan. As a rule, the club's task is to record the parties' intentions to adhere to a certain agreed line. States can only recommend to other international participants to take certain decisions on pressing international issues. However, the club plays an important role in the modern world. The composition of the G8 announced above changed in March 2014 when Russia was expelled from the club. The G7 today is as significant for the world community as large organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the WTO, and the OECD.
History of origin
In 1975, the first meeting of the G6 (Big Six) was held in Rambouillet (France) on the initiative of French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The meeting brought together the heads of countries and governments of France, the United States of America, Great Britain, Japan, Germany and Italy. As a result of the meeting, a joint declaration on economic problems was adopted, which called for the abandonment of aggression in trade and the establishment of new barriers to discrimination. In 1976, Canada joined the club, turning the “six” into a “seven”. The club was conceived more as an enterprise with a discussion of macroeconomic problems. , but then global topics began to arise. In the eighties of the twentieth century, the agendas became more diverse than just resolving economic issues. Leaders discussed the external political situation in developed countries and in the world as a whole.
From seven to eight
In 1997, the club began to position itself as a "Big Eight" as Russia was included in the roster. In this regard, the range of questions has expanded again. Military-political problems became important topics. G8 members have begun to propose plans to reform the club's composition. For example, ideas have been floated to replace leaders' meetings with video conferences to avoid the huge financial costs of holding summits and ensuring the safety of members. Also, the G8 states put forward the option of including more countries, for example, Australia and Singapore, to transform the club into the G20. This idea was then abandoned because with a large number of participating countries it would have been more difficult to make decisions. As the twenty-first century begins, new global themes emerge and the G8 countries address current issues. Discussion of terrorism and cybercrime comes to the fore.
United States of America and Germany
The G7 brings together significant participants in the world political arena. The United States of America uses the club to promote its strategic goals on the international stage. American leadership was especially strong during the financial crisis in the Asia-Pacific region, when the United States achieved approval of favorable action plans to resolve it.
Germany is also an important member of the G7. The Germans use their participation in this club as an influential means to assert and strengthen their country's growing role in the world. Germany is actively striving to pursue a single agreed line of the European Union. The Germans are putting forward the idea of strengthening control over the global financial system and major exchange rates.
France
France participates in the G7 club in order to ensure its position as a "country with global responsibility". In close cooperation with the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance, it plays an active role in world and European affairs. Together with Germany and Japan, France advocates the idea of centralized control over the movement of global capital to prevent currency speculation. Also, the French do not support “wild globalization,” arguing that it leads to a gap between the less developed part of the world and more developed countries. In addition, in countries that are suffering from a financial crisis, the social stratification of society is worsening. That is why, at the proposal of France, the topic of the social consequences of globalization was included at the meeting in Cologne in 1999.
France is also concerned about the negative attitude of many Western countries towards the development of nuclear energy, since 85% of electricity is generated at nuclear power plants on its territory.
Italy and Canada
For Italy, participation in the G7 is a matter of national prestige. She is proud of her membership in the club, which allows her to more actively pursue her claims in international affairs. Italy is interested in all political issues discussed at the meetings, and also does not ignore other topics. The Italians proposed giving the G7 the character of a “permanent mechanism for consultations,” and also sought to provide for regular meetings of foreign ministers on the eve of the summit.
For Canada, the G7 is one of the important and useful institutions for ensuring and promoting its international interests. At the Birmingham summit, Canadians pushed issues relevant to their niches in world affairs, such as banning landmines, onto the agenda. The Canadians also wanted to create the image of a petitioner on those issues on which the leading powers had not yet reached a consensus. Regarding the future activities of the G7, the Canadians' opinion is to rationally organize the work of the forum. They support the "presidents only" formula and holding separate meetings of foreign ministers two to three weeks before the meetings.
Great Britain
The UK highly values its membership of the G7. The British believe that this emphasizes their country's status as a great power. Thus, the country can influence the resolution of important international issues. In 1998, while the UK chaired the meeting, it raised discussions of global economic problems and issues related to the fight against crime. The British also insisted on simplifying the summit procedure and the composition of the G7. They suggested holding meetings with a minimum number of participants and in an informal setting in order to concentrate on a more limited number of issues in order to resolve them more effectively.
Japan
Japan is not a member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO or the European Union, so participation in the G7 summits has special meaning for it. This is the only forum where Japan can influence world affairs and strengthen its position as an Asian leader.
The Japanese use the G7 to put forward their political initiatives. In Denver, they proposed to discuss on the agenda countering international terrorism, combating infectious diseases, and providing assistance for the development of African countries. Japan actively supported solutions to the problems of international crime, the environment and employment. At the same time, the Japanese Prime Minister was unable to ensure that at that time the G8 countries of the world paid attention to the need to make a decision on the Asian financial and economic crisis. After this crisis, Japan insisted on developing new “rules of the game” in order to achieve greater transparency in international finance for both global organizations and private enterprises.
The Japanese have always taken an active part in solving world problems, such as providing employment, fighting international crime, arms control and others.
Russia
In 1994, after the G7 summit in Naples, several separate meetings were held between Russian leaders and G7 leaders. Russian President Boris Yeltsin took part in them on the initiative of Bill Clinton, the head of America, and Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister. At first he was invited as a guest, and after some time - as a full participant. As a result, Russia became a member of the club in 1997.
Since that time, the G8 has significantly expanded the range of issues discussed. The Russian Federation held the presidency in 2006. At that time, the stated priorities of the Russian Federation were energy security, the fight against infectious diseases and their spread, the fight against terrorism, education, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, development of the global economy and finance, development of world trade, environmental protection .
Club goals
The G8 leaders met at summits annually, usually in the summer, on the territory of the Chairmanship State. In June 2014, Russia was not invited to the summit in Brussels. In addition to the heads of state and government of the member countries, two representatives from the European Union participate in the meetings. Proxies of members of a particular G7 country (Sherpas) set the agenda.
The chairman of the club during the year is the leader of one of the countries in a certain order. The G8's goals in Russia's membership in the club are to solve various pressing problems that arise in the world at one time or another. Now they remain the same. All participating countries are leading in the world, so their leaders face the same economic and political problems. Common interests bring leaders together, which allows them to harmonize their discussions and conduct fruitful meetings.
Weight of the Big Seven
The G7 has its significance and value in the world because its summits allow heads of state to look at international problems through someone else's eyes. Summits identify new threats in the world - political and economic, and allow them to be prevented or eliminated through joint decision-making. All G7 members highly value participation in the club and are proud to belong to it, although they primarily pursue the interests of their countries.
The most famous of the informal intergovernmental organizations is the “G-7” - a group of the seven largest economies in the world: the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan. In essence, this is an elite club at the level of heads of state that arose in the 70s. XX century during the collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system. Its main goal is to avoid global imbalance in the world. In 1998, mainly for political reasons, Russia was accepted into the club. In July 2006, the G-8 summit was held for the first time in Russia in St. Petersburg. Experts note that the main result of the summit can be called the final transformation of the organization from an elite club of developed countries that made consolidated decisions on major international issues into a discussion club that shapes the global agenda. But such an agenda is impossible without the participation of China and India. They were present in St. Petersburg as guests, but they have every reason to become full members of the club of world leaders.
In addition to intergovernmental organizations, the number of non-governmental voluntary public organizations (NGOs) is growing. Thus, about 15 thousand representatives of non-governmental organizations gathered at the World Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Such associations as Greenpeace, the Club of Rome, and the Third World Network are widely known. Despite the diversity of such organizations, their activities are usually aimed at protecting human rights, the environment, women’s rights, solving problems of developing countries, and often have an anti-globalist orientation.
In this regard, the concept of a “global public policy network” arose - a joint initiative of NGOs, business circles, national governments, and international organizations. Through these initiatives, participants develop public opinion, international norms and standards on specific controversial issues, such as the effectiveness of large dams. Globalization makes NGOs increasingly influential and implies the creation of a transnational network of NGOs that can influence formal agreements. Their main argument is the thesis that the established institutions of international governance suffer from a deep democratic deficit. The activities of these organizations are not subject to the will of the population - there is no system of direct democratic elections, and information, public control and debate are extremely limited. This means that decisions taken may serve the narrow commercial interests of certain groups of individuals or countries.
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G7 countries
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The Big Seven (G7) is a group of seven industrialized countries: Japan, France, the United States, Canada, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom (see Figure 1). The G7 was created during the oil crisis of the 1970s of the last century - as an informal club
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Main goals of creation:
coordination of financial and economic relations; acceleration of integration processes; development and effective implementation of anti-crisis policy; searching for all possible ways to overcome contradictions that arise both between the G7 member countries and with other states; identifying priorities in the economic and political spheres.
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The decision on the need to hold meetings of the leaders of the above countries was made in connection with the deterioration of relations between Japan, Western Europe and the United States on a number of financial and economic issues. The first meeting was organized by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (then President of France) in Rambouillet on November 15-17, 1975. It brought together the heads of six countries: Japan, France, Germany, the USA, Italy and Great Britain. Canada joined the club in 1976 at a meeting in Puerto Rico. Since that time, meetings of participating countries began to be called G7 “summits” and take place on a regular basis. In 1977, the leaders of the European Union arrived as observers at the summit, which was hosted by London. Since then, their participation in these meetings has become a tradition. Since 1982, the scope of the G7's activities has also included political issues.
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Russia's first participation in the G7 occurred in 1991, when Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the USSR, was invited to the summit. But it was only in June 1997, at a meeting in Denver, that a decision was made to join the “club of seven” of Russia. However, Russia still does not take part in the discussion of some issues.
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Participating countries:
The United States of America (USA), often used as the United States, or simply America, is a state in North America. Area - 9.5 million km². Population - 325 million people.
The capital is the city of Washington
As of 2014, the US economy was the first economy in the world by nominal GDP and the second largest by GDP (PPP). The United States has a powerful military, including the world's largest navy; have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council; are a founding state of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO's military-political bloc). The country also has the second (after Russia) nuclear potential on the planet (in terms of the total number of deployed warheads). With the greatest economic, political, cultural and military influence in the world, the United States is currently considered the only superpower on the planet.
USA
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Japan is one of the most developed countries in the world with a thousand-year history, distinctive culture and traditions. Capital - Tokyo
Japan
Japan is located in East Asia, on 6852 islands. The largest: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, accounting for 97% of the entire territory.
Despite its relatively small area - 377,944 km², the country is densely populated. According to 2015 data, 126 million 958 thousand people live here
Japan today is the only state on the planet against which nuclear weapons have been used.
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France
The French Republic is a state in Western Europe. It is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Republic with a presidential form of government. The head of state is the president. The head of government is the prime minister. The highest legislative power belongs to the bicameral parliament (Senate and National Assembly).
Area 674,685 km² Population 66,627,602 people Capital Paris Largest cities Nice, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse Language French
The French Republic is considered the most interesting European country. More than seventy-five million tourists come here every year. Of course, Paris is considered the cultural capital of France. This city alone has many unique monuments of world culture, not to mention the entire country.
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Canada
Canada is an independent federal state that is part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The form of government is a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the British Queen, on whose behalf all legislative acts and government decisions are published.
Area 9,984,670 km² Population 36,048,521 people Capital Ottawa (since 1867) Largest cities Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton Languages English, French
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Italy
A state in Southern Europe, in the center of the Mediterranean. Member of the European Union and NATO since their creation, it is the third largest economy in the eurozone
Italy is an amazing country in which history and modernity, different eras and a rich cultural heritage, traditions and identity are intertwined.
Italy is inhabited by wonderful people, known for their hot southern temperament, openness, cordiality, amazing sociability, ease and hospitality.
Area 301,338 km² Population 60,674,003 people Capital Rome (since 1946) Largest cities Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, Naples, Genoa, Turin, Bologna, Bari, Palermo Language Italian
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Germany
Germany is an amazing country with a thousand-year history and centuries-old traditions, whose chronicle includes victories and defeats, periods of prosperity and truly tragic pages.
Today, the Federal Republic of Germany (this is the official name of the state) is one of the most developed economies in the world, and its internal political structure is an example of parliamentary democracy and the effective distribution of powers between the center and the constituent entities of the federation.
Area 357,021 km² Population 81,292,400 people Capital Berlin (since 1990) Largest cities Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Bremen, Heads Angela Merkel (Chancellor), Joachim Gauck (President)
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Great Britain
Great Britain is a small state in northwestern Europe. The full name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In just 24 hours you can travel 1,440 km, separating Land's End on the southwest coast of Cornwall from the town of John o' Groats in northeast Scotland.
The state consists of four “historical provinces” (in English - “countries”): England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The form of administrative-territorial structure is a unitary state, although three of the four historical provinces (except England) have a significant degree of autonomy.
Area 242,495 km² Population 65,102,385 people Capital London Largest cities London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Birmingham, Leeds Heads Elizabeth II (monarch), Theresa May (Prime Minister)
, Germany, Italy, Canada, USA, France and Japan.
The unofficial forum of the leaders of these states (with the participation of the European Commission), within the framework of which approaches to current international problems are coordinated, also bears the same name. According to an unspoken rule, the group's summits are held annually in rotation in each of the member states.
Concept "Big Seven" arose in Russian journalism due to the erroneous decoding of the English abbreviation G7 as Great Seven in the early 1990s, although in reality it stands for Group of Seven.
The G7 is not an international organization, it is not based on an international treaty, and does not have a charter or secretariat. The decisions of the G7 are not binding. As a rule, we are talking about fixing the intention of the parties to adhere to an agreed line or about recommendations to other participants in international life to use certain approaches in resolving certain issues. Since the G7 does not have a charter, it is impossible to officially become a member of this institution.
The term "Big Seven", a continuation of which became the term "Big Eight", arose in Russian journalism from the erroneous decoding of the English abbreviation G7 as "Great Seven", although in fact it stands for "Group of Seven" ( "Group of Seven") The first use of the term “Big Seven” was recorded in the article “The Baltics cost Gorbachev $16 billion” in the Kommersant-Vlast magazine dated January 21, 1991.
The idea of holding meetings of leaders of the most industrialized countries in the world arose in the early 1970s in connection with the economic crisis and the deterioration of relations between the United States, Western Europe and Japan on economic and financial issues.
At the first meeting on November 15-17, 1975, at the Rambouillet Palace, on the initiative of the then French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, heads of state and government of six countries gathered (since the early 70s, similar meetings were held at the level of finance ministers): France, USA, Great Britain , Germany, Italy and Japan. At the G6 meeting, a Joint Declaration on Economic Issues was adopted, which called for non-aggression in the trade area and refusal to establish new discriminatory barriers.
In 1976, the “six” turned into a “seven”, accepting Canada into its membership, and during 1991-2002 it was gradually transformed (according to the “7+1” scheme) into the “eight” with the participation of Russia. Since 2014, it has been functioning again in the G7 format - after the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation, Western countries refused to participate in the work of the G8 and began holding meetings in the G7 format.
The chairman of the “seven” is, during each calendar year, the head of one of the member countries in the following rotation order: France, USA, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada (since 1981).
In addition to the summer meetings of heads of state, ministerial level meetings are often held:
GDP dynamics in the G8 countries in 1992-2009, as a percentage of the 1992 level.
Meetings of the heads of state and government of the G7 countries are held annually (usually in the summer) on the territory of the chairing state. In addition to the heads of state and government of the member countries, the meetings are attended by two representatives of the European Union, namely the President of the European Commission and the head of the country currently presiding over the EU.
The agenda of the summit is formed by Sherpas - trusted representatives of the leaders of the G7 countries.
The heads of the G20 countries: India, China, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, in addition, the G20 included South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, Argentina, Spain, and the heads of international and regional unions (EU, CIS) came.
Since 1996, after a meeting in Moscow, Russia began to take an increasingly active part in the work of the association, and since 1997 it has participated in its work on an equal basis with other participants in the association, which then became the Group of Eight (“G8”).
Russia was the chairing country of the G8 during 2006, at the same time the only summit of this organization on the territory of the Russian Federation took place in St. Petersburg (the meeting that took place in Moscow in 1996 was not recognized as a summit).
The Russian Federation was represented at the summits
The so-called Group of Seven was formed in the 70s of the twentieth century. It can hardly be called a full-fledged organization. It is rather a simple international forum. Nevertheless, the list of which is given in this article has influence on the world political arena.
Briefly about G7
"Big Seven", "Group of Seven" or simply G7 - this club of leading states is called differently in the world. It is a mistake to call this forum an international organization, since this community does not have its own charter and secretariat. And the decisions made by the G7 are not binding.
Initially, the abbreviation G7 included the decoding of “Group of Seven” (in the original: Group of Seven). However, Russian journalists interpreted it as the Great Seven back in the early 1990s. After this, the term “Big Seven” became entrenched in Russian journalism.
Our article lists all the G7 countries (the list is presented below), as well as their capitals.
History of the formation of the international club
Initially, the Group of Seven had a G6 format (Canada joined the club a little later). The leaders of the six leading states of the planet first met in this format in November 1975. The initiator of the meeting was French President Valéry Giscard D'Estaing. The main topics of that meeting were the problems of unemployment, inflation, and the global energy crisis.
In 1976, Canada joined the group, and in the 1990s, the G7 was replenished with Russia, gradually transforming into
The idea of creating such a forum was in the air back in the early 70s of the last century. The powers that be were prompted to such thoughts by the energy crisis, as well as the worsening relations between Europe and the United States. Since 1976, the G7 has met annually.
The following section lists all G7 countries. The list includes the capitals of all these states. Representatives from each country are also listed (as of 2015).
"Big Seven" countries of the world (list)
Which states are included today?
Below are all the G7 countries (list) and their capitals:
- USA, Washington (representative - Barack Obama).
- Canada, Ottawa (Justin Trudeau).
- Japan, Tokyo (Shinzo Abe).
- Great Britain, London (David Cameron).
- Germany, Berlin (Angela Merkel).
- France Paris
- Italy, Rome (Mateo Renzi).
If you look at the political map, you can conclude that the countries that are part of the G7 are concentrated exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere of the planet. Four of them are in Europe, one is in Asia, and two more states are located in America.
G7 summits
The G7 countries meet annually at their summits. Meetings are held in turn in the cities of each state from among the members of the “Group”. This unspoken rule continues to this day.
A number of famous cities hosted the G7 summits: London, Tokyo, Bonn, St. Petersburg, Munich, Naples and others. Some of them managed to host leading world politicians twice or even three times.
The topics of the G7 meetings and conferences vary. In the 1970s, issues of inflation and unemployment were most often raised, the problem of the rapid rise in oil prices was discussed, and dialogue was being established between East and West. In the 1980s, the G7 became concerned about AIDS and the rapid growth of the world's population. In the early 1990s, the world experienced a lot of major geopolitical cataclysms (the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia, the formation of new states, etc.). Of course, all these processes became the main topic of discussion at the G7 summits.
The new millennium has brought new global problems: climate change, poverty, local military conflicts and others.
G7 and Russia
In the mid-90s, Russia began to actively integrate into the work of the G7. Already in 1997, G7, in fact, changed its format and turned into G8.
The Russian Federation remained a member of the elite international club until 2014. In June, the country was even preparing to host the G8 summit in Sochi. However, the leaders of the other seven states refused to take part in it, and the summit was moved to Brussels. The reason for this was the conflict in Ukraine and the fact of annexation of the Crimean Peninsula to the territory of the Russian Federation. The leaders of the USA, Canada, Germany and other G7 countries do not yet see the possibility of returning Russia to the G7.
Finally...
The G7 countries (the list of which is presented in this article) undoubtedly have a significant influence on the Throughout the history of its existence, the G7 has held several dozen meetings and forums at which pressing issues and global problems were discussed. The members of the G7 are the USA, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy.