The 42nd G7 summit was held on 26–27 May 2016 at the Shima Kanko Hotel in Kashiko Island,

Shima Shima may refer to: Places , Japan * Shima Province (志摩), one of the old provinces of Japan * Shima, Fukuoka (志摩), a former town in Fukuoka Prefecture * Shima, Mie (志摩), a city in Mie Prefecture ** Shima, Mie (town), a former town ...

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

, Japan. In March 2014, the G7 declared that a meaningful discussion was currently not possible with Russia in the context of the G8. Since then, meetings have continued within the G7 process.

Host selection

Eight Japanese cities bid to host the 42nd G7 summit in 2016. Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced on 5 June 2015 that

was selected against other bids from

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

, Niigata,

Karuizawa is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Karuizawa is one of the oldest and most ...

and

Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was . Overview ...

. When the central government's deadline closed in August 2014 for prefectural governors to apply to host the summit, Mie Prefecture was not in the running. A member of the Prime Minister's Office actually contacted the governor of Mie Prefecture in December 2014, encouraging him to submit a bid. Mie Prefecture was subsequently declared a candidate on 21 January 2015.

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inn ...

had an advantage in terms of security, as it has regularly hosted visits by both the

Imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pap ...

and Japanese political leaders. Another plus was its location in close proximity to

Chūbu Centrair International Airport is an international airport on an artificial island in Ise Bay, Tokoname City in Aichi Prefecture, south of Nagoya in central Japan. Centrair is classified as a first class airport and is the main international gateway for the Chubu ("ce ...

in the

Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...

, offering easy access to visitors. However, Prime Minister Abe had long had a fascination with Ise Shrine. Abe visits the shrine every year after New Year's holiday, and has even been known to postpone meetings so that he could attend a ceremony held at the shrine.

Leaders at the summit

The attendees will include the leaders of the seven G7 member states as well as representatives of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. The

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

is a permanently welcome participant in all meetings and decision-making since 1981. The 42nd G7 summit was the first summit for Canadian Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

. It was also the final summit for British Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

, French President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

Italian Prime Minister The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having been ...

, and

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

Participants

Agenda

The Japanese G7 presidency announced the following agenda:

Global economy and trade

The G7 leaders aim to address challenges affecting the growth of the

world economy The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans of the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities which are conducted both within and between nations, including production, consumption, ...

, like slowdowns in

emerging markets An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or were ...

and drops in price of oil. The G7 also issued a warning in the wake of the upcoming referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the

that "a UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create and is a further serious risk to growth". Commitment to an EU–Japan Free Trade Agreement – which would mean the elimination of the vast majority of trade tariffs, and boost imports and exports in key areas such as agriculture, car manufacturing and clothing, and which the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

alleges "will be worth the equivalent of £200 for every household" – was solidified, with a possible signing in autumn.

also claimed that the deal, alongside the highly unpopular Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), would boost the world economy by £340bn. Despite this, in the wake of the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

, an editorial by

Oxfam Canada Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford C ...

titled "G7 sides with tax dodgers" criticised the G7's commitment to free trade; the editorial said:

G7 leaders have sided with the tax dodgers and not the public. Despite all the talk of action, the G7 have missed this opportunity to end the destructive era of
tax havens A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
, and the world's poorest people – especially women and girls, will pay the price."

Foreign policy

The G7 leaders aim to discuss current

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

issues like counter-terrorism, conflicts in the Middle East, the Ukrainian crisis,

North Korea's nuclear program North Korea has a Korean People's Army, military nuclear weapon program, nuclear weapons program and, as of early 2020, is estimated to have an nuclear arsenal, arsenal of approximately 30 to 40 nuclear weapons and sufficient production of f ...

and the

territorial disputes in the South China Sea Territorial disputes in the South China Sea involve conflicting island and maritime claims in the region by several sovereign states, namely Brunei, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan (Republic of China/ROC), Indonesia, Malaysia, Ph ...

Climate change and energy

The G7 leaders will discuss "how to lead the overall efforts of the international community in addressing climate change" following the signing of the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...

in April. The leaders will also discuss their leading role in

energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contri ...

and ensuring energy security.

Development

As the first G7 summit following the adoption of the

Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

in September 2015, the G7 leaders will discuss advancing and promoting the Goals.

Quality infrastructure investment

The G7 leaders will discuss the importance of quality infrastructure investment contributing to

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

Health

The G7 leaders will discuss strengthening the response to widespread

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

s "by taking into account the lessons learned from previous outbreaks" like the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa. They will also discuss the promotion of

universal health care Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

Women

The G7 leaders will discuss the promotion of

women's empowerment Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several ways, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and training.Kabeer, Naila ...

in education, science and technology and in a wider range of areas.

Gallery of participating leaders

File:Justin Trudeau and Benigno Aquino III November 2015 cropped.jpg, Canada

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

File:Francois Hollande 2015.jpeg, France

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

File:Angela Merkel Security Conference February 2015 (cropped).jpg, Germany
Angela Merkel,

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

File:Matteo Renzi crop 2015.jpeg, Italy

File:Shinzō Abe Official.jpg, Japan
Shinzō Abe,

File:David Cameron official.jpg, United Kingdom

File:President Barack Obama, 2012 portrait crop.jpg, United States

File:2014 - Donald Tusk (16).jpg,

Donald Tusk, Council President File:Ioannes Claudius Juncker die 7 Martis 2014.jpg,

Jean-Claude Juncker,

Commission President The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

Invited guests

File:Sheikh Hasina - 2009 cropped.jpg , Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina,

Idriss Déby at the White House in 2014.jpg , Chad

Idriss Déby Idriss Déby Itno ' (18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the president of Chad from 1990 until his death in 2021. Déby was a member of the Bidayat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. A high-ranki ...

File:Joko Widodo presidential portrait (2016).jpg , Indonesia

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

,President Jokowi to visit Japan
/ref>

Thongloun Sisoulith with Obamas cropped.jpg , Laos

Thongloun Sisoulith Thongloun Sisoulith ( lo, ທອງລຸນ ສີສຸລິດ; born 10 November 1945) is a Lao historian and politician serving as General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party since 15 January 2021 and President of Laos since 2 ...

File:Peter O'Neill May 2015.jpg , Papua New Guinea
Peter O'Neill,

File:Maithripala- Russia (portrait).jpg , Sri Lanka
Maithripala Sirisena,

File:Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc.jpg, Vietnam
Nguyễn Xuân Phúc,

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:G7 summit,42 21st-century diplomatic conferences 2016 conferences 2016 in international relations Diplomatic conferences in Japan

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

May 2016 events in Japan Shima, Mie