G7 Summit

• 02 Sep 2019

The three days G7 summit was concluded on August 26, 2019, at Biarritz, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

• Although no joint communique was issued at the end of the summit, the French President released a statement stating that the seven industrialized nations were committed to open and fair world trade, and global economic stability.

Key Takeaways

• Discussion on forest fires in the Amazon rainforests. G7 countries pledged $20 million help to fight fires in the Amazon rainforests.
• US trade conflicts with France over GAFA tax & other related issues, Iran over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), US-China trade wars.
• G7 leaders backed the existence and importance of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 on Hong Kong and called for violence to be avoided.
• The United States of America offered a better deal after UK’s Brexit.
• There was a call for reinstating Russia back into the group. Russia was removed from the group after it annexed Crimea in 2014. But the consensus for the same was not achieved.
• As a reflection of strong bilateral relations between India & France, a special invitation was sent to India to become a part of this summit.
  
  • On the sidelines of this summit, India highlighted its large-scale efforts to address various environmental issues like, reducing biodiversity, climate change, water stress & ocean pollution.
    
    • India highlighted the steps taken in this regard which include, vow to eliminate single-use plastic, harnessing solar energy, saving water, and protecting flora and fauna.
    • On a session on Digital transformation at G7 Summit, Indian PM remarked, “India’s usage of technology for enhanced & innovative digital payment initiatives.” India is putting enormous efforts in leveraging digital technology to fight social inequalities through empowerment and inclusion.
  • Indian Prime Minister also had a brief discussion with the US President over the Kashmir issue, reiterating that, ‘it is an internal matter of India & any related issues on it will be resolved bilaterally with Pakistan’.
• The need for a dedicated multilateral Green Bank was demanded. The purpose of this bank would solely be to finance the projects supporting renewable energies and mitigating environmental challenges.
  
  • This bank will complement and collaborate with other existing multilateral- regional & national institutions in co-financing the projects.

G7

• The Group of Seven (G7) is a forum of the world's seven largest developed economies whose government leaders meet annually to discuss international economic and monetary issues.
• The G-7 has its roots in an informal meeting of the finance ministers of France, West Germany, the U.S, Great Britain, and Japan (the Group of Five) in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. That, in turn, inspired the French President to invite the leaders of those countries, and Italy, to Rambouillet in 1975 for further discussions on global oil.
• The next year, Canada was also invited to join the group and the first meeting with all G-7 nations was hosted by the United States which was held in Puerto Rico in 1976.
• Summits are held annually and hosted on a rotation basis by the group's members.
• The 2018 summit was hosted by Canada in Quebec from June 8-9.
• The 45th G7 summit was hosted by France from August 24-26, 2019, in Biarritz in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

Members

The G7 members are recognized as the seven wealthiest and most advanced nations in the world. The members are:

• France,
• Germany,
• The United Kingdom,
• Italy,
• The United States of America,
• Canada,
• Japan
• The European Union is sometimes considered an eighth member of the G-7, since it holds all the rights and responsibilities of full members except to chair or host the meeting.

Expansion to G-8 (the Group of Eight)

• The G-7 responded as the global economy evolved. In 1991, the Soviet Union pledged to create an economy with freer markets and held its first direct presidential election.
• Following the 1994 G7 meeting in Naples, Russian President held meetings with G-7 member countries, in what became known as the P-8 (Political 8).
• In 1998, after urging from leaders including U.S. President, Russia was added to the G-7 group as a full-time member, creating a formal G-8.
• However, in 2014, Russia was suspended from the group after the annexation of Crimea and tensions in Ukraine.

Purpose

• The major purpose of the G-7 is to discuss and deliberate on international economic issues. It sometimes acts in concert to help resolve other global problems, with a special focus on economic issues.
• G7 fills out numerous global top lists:
  
  • Leading export countries,
  • Largest gold reserves,
  • Largest nuclear energy producers,
  • Top contributors to the UN budget.

Source: TH