The 25th G8 Summit was held in Cologne, Germany, on June 18–20, 1999. The venue for this summit meeting was the Museum Ludwig in the central city.Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan), MOFA)
Summit Meetings in the Past.
/ref>

Overview

The G8#History, Group of Seven (G8#History, G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada starting in 1976. The G8, meeting for the first time in 1997, was formed with the addition of Russia.Saunders, Doug
"Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders,"
''Globe and Mail'' (Toronto). July 5, 2008. In addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally included in summits since 1981.Reuters
"Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?"
July 3, 2008. The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's President Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the 1st G6 summit, initial summit of the G8#History, Group of Six (G8#History, G6) in 1975.Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998)
''Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations,'' p. 205.
/ref> The G8 summits since the late 1990s have inspired widespread debates, protests and demonstrations; and the two- or three-day event becomes more than the sum of its parts, elevating the participants, the issues and the venue as focal points for activist pressure.
BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development). 2008. In 1999, a global Carnival Against Capital was organised by Peoples' Global Action. 4,000 people rioted in the City of London.

Leaders at the summit

The G8 is an unofficial annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The 25th G8 summit was the first summit for Chancellor of Germany, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and was the last summit for President of Russia, Russian President Boris Yeltsin. It was also the first and only summit for Prime Minister of Italy, Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema and Prime Minister of Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi.

Participants

These summit participants are the current "core members" of the international forum:MOFA
Summit (23)
G8 Research Group
Delegations"EU and the G8"

Priorities

Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda for negotiations, which take place primarily amongst multi-national civil servants in the weeks before the summit itself, leading to a joint declaration which all countries can agree to sign.

Issues

The summit was intended as a venue for resolving differences among its members. As a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions.

Business opportunity

For some, the G8 summit became a profit-generating event; as for example, the official ''G8 Summit'' magazines which have been published under the auspices of the host nations for distribution to all attendees since 1998.

Gallery

File:Jean Chrétien 2010.jpg, Canada
Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister File:ChiracUSA.jpg, France
Jacques Chirac, President of France, President File:Gerhard Schröder (cropped).jpg, Germany, European Union
Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic), Chancellor, President of the European Parliament, Council President File:Massimo D Alema - Prato 1 - resize, head.jpg, Italy
Massimo D'Alema, Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister File:Keizo Obuchi 19980730.jpg, Japan
Keizo Obuchi, Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister File:Борис Николаевич Ельцин.jpg, Russia
Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia, President File:Tony Blair in 2002.jpg, United KingdomTony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister File:Bill Clinton.jpg, United States
Bill Clinton, President of the United States, President File:Immanuel Marín die 23 Novembris 2009.jpg, European Union
Manuel Marín, President of the European Commission, Acting Commission President

Notes

References

* Bayne, Nicholas and Robert D. Putnam. (2000)
''Hanging in There: The G7 and G8 Summit in Maturity and Renewal.''
Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate Publishing.
OCLC 43186692
* Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998)
''Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations.''
London: Routledge. ;
OCLC 39013643

External links

* Official G8 website
Cologne summit, 1999
n.b., no official website is created for any G7 summit prior to 1995 – ''see'' the 21st G7 summit#Accomplishments, 21st G7 summit. * University of Toronto: G8 Research Group
G8 Information Centre
*

{{G8 summits Group of Eight summits, 1999 1999 in Germany, G8 summit History of Cologne, G8 1999 summit Diplomatic conferences in Germany, G8 summit 1999 20th-century diplomatic conferences, G8 summit 1999 1999 conferences, G8 summit 1999 in international relations June 1999 events in Europe