G8 (G20)

[Rasputin]

The Group of Eight G8 is the grouping of eight of the world's leading industrialized nations: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, (the G6, 1975), Canada (the G7, 1976), and Russia (not participating in all events), as well as the European Union. The hallmark of the G8 is an annual economic and political summit (G8 Summit) of the heads of government with international officials, though there are numerous subsidiary meetings and policy research.

Background and history

The G-8 has its roots in the 1973 oil crisis and subsequent global recession. These troubles led the United States of America to form the Library Group, a gathering of senior financial officials from the United States, Europe, and Japan, to discuss the economic issues. In 1975 French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing invited the heads of state of six major industralized democracies to a summit in Rambouillet and proposed regular meetings. The participants agreed to an annual meeting organized under a rotating presidency, forming what was dubbed the Group of Six (G6) consisting of France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. At the following year's summit on Puerto Rico, it became the Group of Seven (G7), when Canada joined at the behest of U.S. President Gerald Ford.


The current G8 leaders are:
Canada — Paul Martin
France — Jacques Chirac
Germany — Gerhard Schröder
Italy — Silvio Berlusconi
Japan — Junichiro Koizumi
Russia — Vladimir Putin
United Kingdom — Tony Blair
United States of America — George W. Bush
European Union — President of the European Council, President of the European Commission and President of the European Parliament

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Structure and activities of the Group

The G8 is not supported by a transnational administration, unlike institutions such as the United Nations or World Bank. The presidency of the Group rotates among the member states annually, with the new president assuming responsibility on 1 January. The country holding the presidency hosts a series of ministerial-level meetings leading up to a mid-year three-day summit with the heads of state, as well as ensures the safety of the participants.

The ministerial meetings bring together ministers in topics such as health, law enforcement, and labor, to discuss issues of mutual or global concern. The best known of these is the G-7, which now refers specifically to the annual meeting of the financial ministers of the G-8 minus Russia, as well as officials from the European Community. However, there also is a briefer "G8+5" meeting for the finance ministers of the full G-8, as well as China, Mexico, India, Brazil, and South Africa.

Under the auspices of G7 a special programme for the implementation of the Information Society was established in 1994.

In June 2005 the G8 agreed to launch an international database on paedophiles, expected to be set up by the end of the year. Other countries may join later.[1] The G8 also agreed to pool data on terrorism, subject to the restrictions of the various countries' privacy and security laws. [2]

In June 2005 the national science academies of the G8 nations (including the US' National Academy of Sciences) - and Brazil, China and India, three of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the developing world, signed a statement on the global response to climate change. The statement stresses that the scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action [3], and explicitly endorsed the IPCC consensus.

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Criticism of the Group

The annual summits often are the focus of anti-globalization movement protests, notably at the 27th G8 summit in Genoa in 2001. Critics often refer to the G8 as an unofficial "world government".

Pressure has also been put on G8 leaders to commit to large aid packages for Africa to help combat problems such as AIDS and poverty. Bob Geldof organised Live 8, global awareness concerts on July 2 and July 6 in 2005, to encourage G8 leaders to "make poverty history". The concerts were timed to coincide with the 31st G8 summit.

[ali san]

the sumit will be a waste of time, Nothing will be achieved apart from the Uk and French bragging about who got the rights to host the games which has 5rings in it(the olympics?do we care). Third world famine, do these countries care about africa(no?)..................more should be done, geldof is an opinionated ***, who has the right idea but cant argue his case...................Africa will always be debt, disease and suffer from tribal warfae. we will sit back and watch this happen and we will continue to watch further live aid concerts which will have no avail. maybe i'm being a cynic..........

[Rasputin]

the sumit will be a waste of time, Nothing will be achieved apart from the Uk and French bragging about who got the rights to host the games which has 5rings in it(the olympics?do we care). Third world famine, do these countries care about africa(no?)..................more should be done, geldof is an opinionated ***, who has the right idea but cant argue his case...................Africa will always be debt, disease and suffer from tribal warfae. we will sit back and watch this happen and we will continue to watch further live aid concerts which will have no avail. maybe i'm being a cynic..........

Hmm ali GREENPEACE ?

[ali san]

my spelling is terrible - its 1.35am. greenpeace just care about pollution and whales............my farther always told me "pesar, we have the haves and the have nots, it is our duty to help the have nots" But in the western world the colour of sucess in green, we dont see africa as a money maker............only nigeria coz it has oil..............

[Rasputin]

Eh Africa is not important now ! because your country (Iran) needs freedom and u must to work and think about IRAN now.!!!

I like what your father said .

[ali san]

iran needs another revoloution to sort itself out.

time is the only commodity which money cant buy and man cant find enough of.

in the case of iran the right thing will happen, the people can force change, but we must do more for our starving friends in africa, we must help financially, educate and overlook...........we need to stop wasting money on "arms deals and war budgets" and give these people some food and love.

god i sound like a hippy

[Rasputin]

yeah Ali,i was thinkin,maybe u r a hippy guy from London j/k .

[ali san]

i am a cynic from iran . london unfortunatly is the place i live in.
if u dont know where yr from, youdont know where your going.............
i'm from iran, and once i'm older and wiser and have some money behind me i will leave this country...........

[Rasputin]

i am a cynic from iran . london unfortunatly is the place i live in.
if u dont know where yr from, youdont know where your going.............
i'm from iran, and once i'm older and wiser and have some money behind me i will leave this country...........

Very good amigo.. i take you with me .

[Rasputin]

سران گروه هشت در نشست سالانه*ي خود كه فردا (چهارشنبه) برگزار مي*شود در خصوص ايران مذاكره خواهند كرد.

خبرگزاري آسوشيتدپرس با مخابره اين خبر افزود، سران هشت كشور بزرگ اقتصادي دنيا فردا در اسكاتلند با يكديگر ديدار خواهند كرد و انتظار مي*رود طي اين نشست براي پرداخت ميليارد*ها دلار كمك به آفريقا توافقاتي صورت گيرد.

بر اساس اين گزارش، در اين مذاكرات كه سه روز به طول مي*انجامد مسايل مهم سياسي عراق،* ايران، كره شمالي، موضوع فلسطين مورد بررسي قرار خواهد گرفت.

انتظار مي*رود همزمان با برگزاري اين نشست صدها گروه مخالف جهاني سازي به تظاهرات خواهند پرداخت و به همين علت نشست*ها تحت تدابير بسيار شديد امنيتي برگزار خواهد شد.

[Rasputin]

سران گروه هشت كه در اسكاتلند گردهم آمده*اند در پايان نشست خود توافق كردند تا كمك قابل توجهي را در اختيار تشكيلات خودگردان فلسطين و آفريقا قرار دهند. با اين حال توافق چنداني درباره*ي مقابله با افزايش گرماي كره*ي زمين بدست نيامد.

به گزارش خبرگزاري دانشجويان ايران (ايسنا) به نقل از خبرگزاري آسوشيتدپرس، توني بلر، نخست وزير انگليس در پايان نشست سه روزه*ي گروه 8 عنوان داشت: ما امروز در سايه تروريسم سخن مي*گوييم اما اين امر مانع نمي*شود تا به اهدافمان دست نيابيم.

در نشست G8 بلر توانست در آخرين دقايق با حمايت ژاپن كمك*هاي قاره آفريقا را دو برابر كرده و از 25 ميليارد به 50 ميليارد دلار برساند.

علاوه بر افزايش چشم*گير ميزان كمك*ها به آفريقا، رهبران گروه هشت معاهدات جديدي را درباره امور تجاري به امضا رساندند و همچنين بدهي تعدادي از كشورهاي فقير جهان را لغو كردند. آنها هم*چنين خواستار دسترسي همگاني به درمان بيماري* ايدز، استفاده از نيروهاي حافظ صلح در آفريقا و پيگيري روند دموكراسي در اين قاره شدند.

بلر همراه با جورج بوش، رييس جمهور آمريكا و ديگر رهبران گروه هشت و هم*چنين رهبران پنج كشور آفريقايي كه در نشست گروه هشت حضور داشتند، عنوان داشت: تمام اين مواردي كه ما به آنها اشاره كرده*ايم يك روزه نمي*توانند دنيا را تغيير دهند؛ اين تازه شروع كار است نه پايان آن.

الوسگان اوباسانجو، رييس جمهور نيجريه كه به عنوان رييس اتحاديه*ي آفريقا در نشست حضور داشت، ضمن تشكر از افزايش كمك*ها به اين قاره از اينكه اقدامات تروريستي بر تصميم G8 تاثير نگذاشته تشكر كرد.

همچنين سران G8 توافق كردند كه يك كمك 3 ميليارد دلاري در سالهاي آتي در اختيار تشكيلات خودگردان قرار دهند.

با اين حال رهبران گروه هشت نتوانستند بر مخالفت*هاي دولت بوش با قوانين مقابله با گرم شدن كره*ي زمين فائق آيند.

بلر در اين رابطه عنوان داشت: توافق جزيي كه در اين زمينه به دست آمده تنها آغازي براي گفت*وگوهاي جديد است.

آمريكا تنها كشور عضو گروه هشت به شمار مي*آيد كه تاكنون پروتكل سال *1997 كيوتو را درباره*ي گرم شدن زمين تصويب نكرده است و به اين ترتيب درخواست*هاي بلر را براي تعيين اهداف خاص براي كاهش گازهاي گلخانه*يي رد كرده است.

در بيانيه*ي اين اجلاس تنها عنوان شده كه افزايش تقاضا براي سوخت*هاي فسيلي عامل اصلي تشكيل گاز*هاي گلخانه*يي است كه به گرم شدن زمين انجاميده است.

[Rasputin]

US contests G8 climate communiqué

Attempts to step up international action on climate change among the Group of Eight industrialised nations are being strongly contested by the US.

A draft of the proposed communiqué from the G8’s summit in Germany in June, seen by the Financial Times, shows the US is trying to weaken some of the starkest language on climate change.

The US, which declined to comment, wants to remove all reference to the scientific prediction, contained in the original draft, that “beyond a temperature increase of 2°C, risks from climate change will be largely unmanageable”.

US officials object to setting a safe limit on the global rise in temperatures that will result from climate change but the European Union wants to use such a safety limit as the basis on which to work out the safe limit of global greenhouse gas emissions, and thereby impose emissions curbs on most countries.

Philip Clapp, president of the US National Environmental Trust, said: “This is another stonewalling tactic. The Bush administration is as out of step with the US Congress on climate change as with the G8 leaders. I hope Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and Prime Minister [Tony] Blair will stand their ground and not allow a watered down agreement to masquerade as real progress.”

The US would remove all reference to the emissions reduction requirements that the EU wished to include. A reference to the need to begin negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto treaty is also deleted, as is all reference to the United Nations.

The draft document has been weakened in relation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which this year produced the most authoritative scientific assessment of the problem to date, showing that the world has until 2020 to reverse the trend of rising greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

In place of a paragraph saying the G8 leaders are “deeply concerned about the latest scientific findings confirmed by the IPCC”, the US wishes to insert: “We take note of the recent assessment of the IPCC that warming of the climate system is occurring.”

The US stance was in stark contrast to a joint statement issued yesterday by the national science academies of all G8 nations and Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. It drew attention to the IPCC findings and urged a goal of confining global warming to two degrees above pre-industrial levels. The academies said: “Our present energy course is not sustainable . . . The problem is not yet insoluble, but becomes more difficult with each passing day.”

The statement was published in Berlin where Ms Merkel said the appeal should encourage the G8 to take firm action.

[Rasputin]

Blair and Bush hold talks in run-up to G8

Prime Minister Tony Blair will hold talks with President George Bush today as the final round of international diplomacy of his premiership gets under way.

Mr Blair is said to be keen to discuss climate change with Mr Bush in the run-up to the forthcoming G8 summit next month.

The pair will also discuss Iraq and the Middle East as well as talks on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and the latest world trade negotiations.

Mr Blair arrived at Andrews Air Force base outside Washington yesterday and had a private dinner with Mr Bush before spending the night at the White House.

Tony Snow, White House spokesman, said: "Certainly, the war on terror is going to be the central issue. In addition, they're going to be talking about the G8; they'll be talking about things like Darfur and the Middle East."

This morning's working session in the Oval Office will be followed by a joint press conference.

The visit is part of the Prime Minister's "business as usual" approach to his final weeks in power, representing the UK at international gatherings where crucial decisions will be taken.

Tonight there will be a reception at the British Embassy to mark the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland, with inevitable speculation that former president Bill Clinton may be among the guests.

The premier's official spokesman said: "The World Trade Organisation talks will be high on the agenda because we are approaching crunch point. The run-up to the G8 will be important, particularly on climate change."

The G8 summit takes place in Germany at the beginning of next month, and Mr Blair is keen to pursue his Gleneagles agenda of green issues and aid for Africa.

His spokesman added that Mr Blair believed the world should also send a "very clear message" on Darfur telling the Sudanese government to come into line with international, United Nations-backed demands.

Iraq and the Middle East peace process will feature in an unusually-long session of talks, which will be seen as the last protracted dialogue between Mr Blair and Mr Bush, whose alliance after the September 11 2001 terror attack led to the invasion of Iraq.

In an interview with NBC Nightly News, Mr Blair said he got used to a "very intense" level of criticism over Britain's participation in the Iraq war and praised President Bush's leadership.

"I have found him immensely straightforward to deal with, someone who is always true to his word, and someone who is a very strong leader," Blair said.