| Summit Name: | 12th G7 summit |
| Country: | Japan |
| Dates: | May 4–6, 1986 |
| Cities: | Tokyo |
| Venues: | Tokyo Imperial Palace |
| Follows: | 11th G7 summit |
| Precedes: | 13th G7 summit |
The 12th G7 Summit was held in Tokyo, Japan between May 4 and May 6, 1986. The venue for the summit meetings was the State Guesthouse.[1] The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (since 1976),[2] and the President of the European Commission (starting officially in 1981).[3] 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 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the first Group of Six (G6) summit in 1975.[4]
The G7 is an unofficial annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.[3]
The 12th G7 summit was the last summit for Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi.
These summit participants are the current "core members" of the international forum:[5] [1] [6]
| Core G7 members Host state and leader are shown in bold text. | |||
| Member | Represented by | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Canada | Brian Mulroney | Prime Minister |
 | France | François Mitterrand | President |
| West Germany | Helmut Kohl | Chancellor | |
 | Italy | Bettino Craxi | Prime Minister |
 | Japan | Yasuhiro Nakasone | Prime Minister |
| United Kingdom | Margaret Thatcher | Prime Minister | |
 | United States | Ronald Reagan | President |
| European Community | Jacques Delors | President of the Commission | |
 Ruud Lubbers | President of the Council | ||
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.[4]