Feature:

You are here: Home > Features > Kananaskis G8 Summit> What is the G8?

G8 Summits and Other Meetings

G8 Heads-of-State

The heads-of-government of each member country meet every year at a G8 Summit. These leaders are the center of G8 policy making. G8 heads-of-government include:

• The Prime Minister of Canada
• The President of France
• The Chancellor of Germany
• The Prime Minister of Italy
• The Prime Minister of Japan
• The President of the United States
• The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• The President of Russia
• The President of the European Union Commission

The Summit location rotates between Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US. During the year, the host country is responsibly for providing all facilities and security for G8 meetings.

Initially, the G8 Summits were very informal affairs. Over time, the Summits became overly bureaucratic, ceremonial, and lacking in real substance. At the 1998 Birmingham Summit, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair introduced several reforms to address these problems. These reforms included:

• The "leaders-only" format, with foreign and finance ministers meeting separately in advance. This allowed ministers and leaders to accomplish more in the limited time of a summit.
• The introduction of a "private retreat" on the second day of the summit, with the heads-of-state meeting informally without aids and reporters. This allowed leaders to cut through the ceremony of a summit and engage in substantive face-to-face discussion.

G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

The Finance Ministers of the G7 meet three times a year with Central Bank Governors to review and develop common approaches to domestic and international economic and financial issues. Russia does not attend these meetings.

A Finance Minister is responsible for the budgetary and other fiscal policies of their countries. A Central Bank Governor is responsible for their nation's state bank (i.e. the Bank of Canada) and monetary policy (inflation and the value of money).

The first meeting between Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors is held in the new-year (January or February). The second and third meetings are held just before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings (in April and September). In special circumstances, the G7 Finance Ministers will hold additional consultations during the year to address urgent economic and financial issues.

The G7 Finance Ministers also meet without the Central Bank Governors just prior to the G-8 Summit. At this meeting, the Ministers discuss issues that will be taken up at the Summit. At the conclusion of this meeting, the Ministers generally release reports to the leaders at the Summit.

Other Government Ministers

Other G8 government ministers also meet regularly to discuss global, social, and environmental problems. These include Ministers of the Environment, Foreign Affairs, and Labour.

© 2001-2006 Maple Leaf Web.
All Rights Reserved

This page was last modified: August 10, 2007