The 34th G8 summit was held in the town of Tōyako, Hokkaido, Japan, on July 7–9, 2008.Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): 34th G8 summit, overview. The locations of previous summits hosted by Japan include Tokyo (1979, 1986, 1993) and Nago, Okinawa (2000). The G8 summit has evolved beyond being a gathering of world political leaders to become an occasion for a wide variety of non-governmental organizations, activists and civic groups to congregate and discuss a multitude of issues.Zablonski, Lukasz and Philip Seaton. "The Hokkaido Summit as a Springboard for Grassroots Initiatives: The 'Peace, Reconciliation & Civil Society' Symposium", The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus (e-journal). ID No. 2973.
Overview 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 Group of Eight (G8), meeting for the first time in 1997, was formed with the addition of Russia.Saunders, Doug. "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders", Globe and Mail (Toronto). July 5, 2008. In addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally included in summits since 1981.Reuters: , July 3, 2008. 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 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the initial summit of the Group of Six (G6) in 1975.
In discussions regarding Africa during the 34th G8 summit, the G8 leaders set a five-year deadline to commit US$60 billion in funding to help fight disease in Africa and renewed a commitment made three years earlier to double aid for Africa to $25-billion by 2010 and to consider pledging further assistance after 2010. On the topic of global warming, the G8 leaders agreed on the need for the world to cut carbon emissions blamed for global warming by at least 50 percent by 2050. Environmental activists and leaders from the developing countries described the statement as a "toothless gesture". Results of discussions on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement were not known. The G8 leaders made statements regarding their relations with Zimbabwe,Statement Iran and, North Korea. The responses of the G8 leaders to the "Challenge to the G8 Governments" of over 100 NGOs and other organisations and individuals requesting them to "cancel all illegitimate debt", to "end the practice of using loans and debt cancellation to impose conditionalities" and to "facilitate the return of stolen assets kept in the banks in the G8 countries" are not presently known. Regarding the 2007–2008 world food price crisis, the differences between the G8 leaders and the citizens' groups' approaches to solving the crisis appeared unresolved. The G8's communiqué said that it was "imperative" to remove export restrictions, in contrast to requests of the signers of the "Challenge to the G8 Governments".
The G8 summits during the 21st-century have also involved widespread parallel debates and protests by citizens and claimed human rights violations against some of them during massive police/military operations. Over 40 dissidents were arrested before the summit started"Resistance action against police in Kamagasaki", Indymedia. June 17, 2008. and nineteen or twenty Koreans critical of the G8 leadership were detained at New Chitose Airport for at least 24 hours. During a "non-violent demonstration where no acts against property or people took place" according to a legal observer, at least four people were arrested, including a Reuters cameraman. At this venue, amongst the reasons cited for demonstrations and protests were that a G8 summit is merely an arbitrary meeting of national leaders and that it is also a nexus which becomes more than the sum of its parts, elevating the participants, the event and the venue as focal points for activist pressure. "Update: G8...Forward plan with others for future G8 summits", BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development). 2008.
Leaders at the summit 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.
The 34th G8 summit was the first summit for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,Zakaria, Tabassum. "G8 summit of politically weak facing tough issues", Turkish Daily News (Istanbul). July 3, 2008. and was the last summit for US President George W. Bush.Raum, Tom. "Bush's final G-8 summit could be harmonious", International Herald-Tribune. July 3, 2008; Iwuagwu, Obi. "Africa and the G8 Summits", Business Day (Lagos, Nigeria). July 17, 2008. It was also the first and only summit for Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.Gilson, Mike. "Land of Rising Sun can shed new light on climate fight", The Scotsman (Edinburgh). June 30, 2008. Fukuda resigned as Japan's Prime Minister on September 1, and he being the first of the G8 leaders at the summit to leave office. "Get someone else", The Economist. September 1, 2008.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy observed, "I think it is not reasonable to continue to meet as eight to solve the big questions of the world, forgetting China -- one billion 300 million people -- and not inviting India -- one billion people."Wendlandt, Astrid. "France's Sarkozy says "not reasonable" to meet as G8", Reuters. July 5, 2008; Pascal Liétout, Pascal. "Nicolas Sarkozy veut ouvrir le G8 à la Chine, l'Inde, l'Afrique", L'Express (Paris). July 5, 2008. Japan and the United States announced opposition to Sarkozy's implied suggestion. "G8: U. S. Against Broadening to Emerging Economies", AGI (Agenzia Giornolistica Italiana). July 7, 2008.
Participants
These summit participants are the current "core members" of the international forum:Rieffel, Lex. "Regional Voices in Global Governance: Looking to 2010 (Part IV)", Brookings. March 27, 2009; "core" members (Muskoka 2010 G-8, official site). 2008 Hokkaido G-8, delegations.Hokkaido G-8, delegations; "EU and the G8" Munari, Carmen. "Agenda política - Lula participa de reunião do G8 no Japão", O Globo (São Paulo). July 4, 2008 (in Portuguese). "G-8: world economy will be in focus", The Hindu (Chennai). July 5, 2008; "PM to take up fuel price issue, need for action plan at G8 meet", The Hindu Business Line (New Delhi) -- Dr Singh will have bilateral meeting the Prime Minister of Japan, the US President, and the leaders of Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia and the Secretary General of the United Nations. "México: presidente Calderón viaja a Japón por cumbre G8 y visita China", Univision (Mexico). July 4, 2008. (in Spanish) Liang, Yan. "Mbeki to attend G-8 outreach session in Japan", Xinhua (Beijing). July 6, 2008; Fabricus, Peter. "Mbeki to press G8 leaders on Africa", The Star (Johannesburg). July 7, 2008.Saidani, Hamid. <<L’UPM sera au centre des discussions, Entretien Bouteflika-Sarkozy au Japon,>> Lakoom-info (Paris). July 5, 2008. (in French) Stewart, Cameron. "Perfect Timing for Kevin Rudd's Trip to Australia", The Australian (Melbourne). July 5, 2008.Lian, Yan. "Japanese ambassador: G8 Summit to highlight African issues", Xinhua (Beijing)> July 5, 2008. "President Kufuor leaves for G8 summit", Joy Online. July 5, 2008. Liang, Yan. "Indonesian president to speak on food security at G8+8 summit", Xinhua (Beijing). July 2, 2008.Ibe, Paul. "Yar’Adua in Japan for G8 Summit", This Day Online (Lagos). July 7, 2008; Ravichandran, R. "Nigerian President Skipping D-8" (Group of 8 Islamic Developing Countries) , Bernama, Malaysian National News Agency (Kuala Lumpur). July 3, 2008. <<G8 – Afrique, Des promesses mais pas beaucoup d’argent,>> Lakoom-info (Paris). July 5, 2008. (in French) "Pres. Lee to Attend G8 Summit", The Chosun Ilbo (Seoul). June 26, 2008; Na Jeong-ju. "President Lee Heads for Japan for Expanded G8 Summit", Korea Times (Seoul). July 8, 2008 -- Lee is to hold a series of bilateral talks with U.S. President Bush, Russian President Medvedev and leaders of India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia. "Support for Africa's development not just a moral imperative; it is critical to global security, Deputy Secretary-General tells African Union assembly", ReliefWeb, UN-OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). June 30, 2008.Fabricus, Peter. "Mbeki to press G8 leaders on Africa", The Star (Johannesburg). July 7, 2008.Yan, Yangtze. "UN chief urges G8 nations to honor commitments to aid Africa", Xinhua (Beijing). July 7, 2008.Ibe, Paul. "Yar’Adua in Japan for G8 Summit", This Day Online (Lagos). July 2008.
Core G8 membersHost state and leader are shown in bold text. Member Represented by Title Canada Stephen Harper Prime Minister France Nicolas Sarkozy President Germany Angela Merkel Chancellor Italy Silvio Berlusconi Prime Minister Japan Yasuo Fukuda Prime Minister Russia Dmitry Medvedev President United Kingdom Gordon Brown Prime Minister United States George W. Bush President European Union José Manuel Barroso Commission President Nicolas Sarkozy Council PresidentG8+5 Invitees (Countries) Member Represented by Title Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva President China Hu Jintao General SecretaryPresident India Manmohan Singh Prime Minister Mexico Felipe Calderón President South Africa Thabo Mbeki PresidentLimited Guest Invitees (Countries) Member Represented by Title Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika President Australia Kevin Rudd Prime Minister Ethiopia Meles Zenawi Prime Minister Ghana John Kufuor President Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono President Nigeria Umaru Musa Yar'Adua President Senegal Abdoulaye Wade President South Korea Lee Myung-bak President Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete PresidentGuest Invitees (International Institutions) Member Represented by Title African Union Jean Ping Commission Chairman Jakaya Kikwete Chairperson Commonwealth of Independent States Sergey Lebedev Executive Secretary International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei Director General International Energy Agency Nobuo Tanaka Executive Director United Nations Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General UNESCO Kōichirō Matsuura Director-General World Bank Robert Zoellick President World Health Organization Margaret Chan Director-General World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy Director-General
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. This year, leaders of the G8 hoped to find common ground on climate change, the global economy, and a host of political crises. "Key agreements at G8 summit", Economic Times (India). July 8, 2007.
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.
Africa