39th G8 summit

The 39th G8 summit took place in Northern Ireland on 17th and 18th June 2013. The meeting was at the Lough Erne Golf Resort in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland

In the Queen's speech at the state opening of Parliament in 2012, Elizabeth II said that "my government will use this opportunity to promote international security and prosperity."

History

The gathering of the Group of Eight (G8) will be the 39th meeting in a series which began in 1976.

Previous G8 summits have been hosted by the United Kingdom at London (1977, 1984, 1991) and Birmingham (1998) in England. The 2005 summit was in Scotland at Gleneagles.

The G8 and the summit are part of a consultation process. The G8 is not an international organization. It is an informal group.

Participants

The participants will be the "core members" of the group:

Core G8 members
Host nation and leader are indicated in bold text.
Member Represented by Title
Canada Canada Stephen Harper Prime Minister
France France François Hollande President
Germany Germany Angela Merkel Chancellor
Italy Italy Enrico Letta Prime Minister
Japan Japan Shinzo Abe Prime Minister
Russia Russia Vladimir Putin President
United Kingdom United Kingdom David Cameron Prime Minister
United States United States Barack Obama President
European Union European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso President
European Council Herman Van Rompuy President

Invited leaders

A number of national leaders are traditionally invited to attend the summit. They are asked to participate in some, but not all, G8 summit activities.

Schedule and agenda

The summit meetings are intended as a way to resolve differences among the G8 members.

Traditionally, the host country sets the agenda. As host, Prime Minister Cameron is expected to try to change the G8. He has criticised costs and questioned the value of G8 meetings.

Discussions at the 39th G8 summit will include some issues which remain unresolved from previous summits.

The G8 discussions will be about a range of topics, including

Protesters and demonstrations

Because of the nature of the summit, protest groups and other activists usually attend. The planning for the summit includes how to deal with these groups.

Britain's leading aid groups and charities are planning a "propaganda offensive" which hopes to affect the food-dominated agenda for the G8.

References

  1. ↑ "Queen's speech 2012," Guardian (UK). 9 May 2012; retrieved 2012-5-20.
  2. ↑ US Dept. of State, About the G8; retrieved 2012-5-20.
  3. ↑ G20/G8 France 2011, What is G8? ("Previous summits" section) Archived 2012-03-19 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-5-21
  4. ↑ G20-G8 France 2011, What is G8? ("Language" section) Archived 2012-03-19 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-5-21.
  5. ↑ US Dept. of State, G8 Frequently Asked Questions ("How does the G8 work?" section); retrieved 2012-5-21.
  6. ↑ Rieffel, Lex. "Regional Voices in Global Governance: Looking to 2010 (Part IV)," Archived 2010-06-03 at the Wayback Machine Brookings. March 27, 2009; retrieved 2012-5-20.
  7. ↑ Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations, p. 205.
  8. ↑ UPI, "Italy Knocked for Alleged poor G8 Planning", July 7, 2009; retrieved 2012-5-20.
  9. ↑ Wintour, Patrick. "David Cameron plans to downgrade G8 summit," Guardian (UK). 28 June 2010; retrieved 2012-5-20.
  10. ↑ Traynot, Ian et al. "G8 at Camp David: what the world wants to achieve," Guardian (UK). 17 May 2012; WhiteHouse.gov, "Wrapping Up the G8 Summit at Camp David" Archived 2012-05-20 at the Wayback Machine;retrieved 2012-5-20.
  11. 1 2 3 Elliott, Larry. "Make Poverty History 2 to launch in 2013," Guardian (UK). 22 April 2012; retrieved 2012-5-20.
  12. ↑ Balde, Lisa and Phil Rogers. "Adbusters Wants 50,000 G8/NATO Protesters in Chicago," NBCChicago (US), 27 January 2012; retrieved 2012-5-20.

Other websites


Preceded by
38th G8 summit		 39th G8 summit
United Kingdom
2013		 Succeeded by
40th G8 summit