The 12th G7 Summit was held in Tokyo, Japan between May 4 and 6, 1986. The venue for the summit meetings was the State Guesthouse in Tokyo, Japan.Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): Summit Meetings in the Past.

The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (since 1976),Saunders, Doug. "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," Globe and Mail (Toronto). July 5, 2008 -- n.b., the G7 becomes the Group of Eight (G7) with the inclusion of Russia starting in 1997. and the President of the European Commission (starting officially in 1981).Reuters: "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?", 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 first Group of Six (G6) summit in 1975.Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations, p. 205.

Leaders at the summit

The G7 is an unofficial annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The 12th G7 summit was the last summit for Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi.

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). MOFA: Summit (12); European Union: "EU and the G8"

Core G7 membersHost state and leader are shown in bold text. Member Represented by Title Canada Brian Mulroney Prime Minister France François Mitterrand President West Germany Helmut Kohl Chancellor Italy Bettino Craxi Prime Minister Japan Yasuhiro Nakasone Prime Minister United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister United States Ronald Reagan President European Community Jacques Delors President of the Commission Ruud Lubbers President of the Council

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.

Gallery of participating leaders Core G7 participants

See also G8

Notes

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. ; OCLC 43186692( 2009-04-29) Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations. London: Routledge. ; ;

External links 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 G7 1986, delegations & documents