BEIJING, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) will
gather in the central Italian city of L'Aquila on July 8 for the annual G8
summit.
The following are some key facts about the summit.
The G8, which evolved from the G7, consists of the world's eight leading
industrialized nations: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the
United States and Russia.
In November 1975, in the wake of the worst global economic crisis since
World War II, leaders of France, the United States, the then West Germany,
Japan, Britain and Italy gathered in France for their first economic summit to
discuss the global economic situation and coordinate policies to reinvigorate
their economies.
The group of the six developed countries welcomed Canada as the club's
seventh member at the second summit held in San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico in
June 1976, thus G7 came into being.
Since then, G7 members held the summit annually hosted by a rotating
presidency.
In July 1991, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was invited to hold
talks with the G7 leaders following the close of the summit in London. The
participation on Russia's part continued in this way till Russia was finally
granted the right to join discussions on political issues in 1994, forming the
"7+1" mechanism.
The G7 summit became a G8 event in Denver of the United States in June
1997, when then Russian President Boris Yeltsin was invited to fully participate
in the summit, and the final communique was issued in the name of the eight
leaders for the first time, implying the G8's replacement of the "7+1"
mechanism.
In the following year, Russia became an official member of G8. It gained
the right in 2002 to host the 2006 summit. However, Russia's participation has
long been limited to political issues and the G7 system remains in existence.
Traditionally, the summit mainly concerned economic issues and the
coordination of macroeconomic policies of member states. However, political
issues were put on the agenda in the late 1980s. Discussions during the annual
summit now cover economy, politics, security and poverty alleviation.
Special Report: President Hu attends G8 - emerging economies
dialogue
