Group of Eight

The eight leading industrial nations of the world: the USA, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Canada, and Russia, which account for more than three-fifths of global GDP. Founded as the Group of Seven (G7) in 1975, without Russia, the heads of government have met once a year to discuss economic and, increasingly, political matters. Russia attended the annual summits from 1991, and became a full member in 1998, when the name of the organization was changed. Summits are also attended by the president of the European Commission.

The group formed during the 1970s with the aim of coordinating international management of exchange rates following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of fixed rates. However, its intervention in the mid-1980s was later blamed for the 1987 stock-market crash, and annual summits increasingly became forums for discussion of topical issues rather than policy-formulating sessions.

2002 summit G8 leaders held their annual summit in Kananaskis, Canada, in June 2002. Amid tight security, the discussions focused on fighting terrorism in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the USA, strengthening global economic growth, and building a new partnership for African development (although international aid agencies were critical of the scale of the planned assistance).