19th G7 summit explained

Summit Name:19th G7 summit
Country:Japan
Dates:July 7–9, 1993
Follows:18th G7 summit
Precedes:20th G7 summit

The 19th G7 Summit was held in Tokyo, Japan, on July 7–9, 1993. The venue for the summit meetings was the State Guesthouse in Tokyo, Japan.[1] The Group of Seven (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, 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]

Leaders at the summit

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 19th G7 summit was the first summit for US President Bill Clinton and the last summit for Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. It was also the first and only summit for Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell and Italian Prime Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

Participants

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.
MemberRepresented byTitle
CanadaKim CampbellPrime Minister
FranceFrançois MitterrandPresident
GermanyHelmut KohlChancellor
ItalyCarlo Azeglio CiampiPrime Minister
JapanKiichi MiyazawaPrime Minister
United KingdomJohn MajorPrime Minister
United StatesBill ClintonPresident
European UnionHenning ChristophersenCommission Vice-President
Jean-Luc DehaeneCouncil President

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.[4] Issues which were discussed at this summit included:

Accomplishments

In 1993, the summit leaders called for an "international agreement" to "protect forests," but there is little evidence of follow-up action.[7]

See also

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): Summit Meetings in the Past.. Accessed 2009-03-11. 2009-04-30.
  2. Saunders, Doug. "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," Globe and Mail (Toronto). July 5, 2008 -- n.b., the G7 becomes the Group of Eight (G7) with the inclusion of Russia starting in 1997.
  3. Reuters: "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?", July 3, 2008.
  4. Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations, p. 205.
  5. Rieffel, Lex. "Regional Voices in Global Governance: Looking to 2010 (Part IV)," Brookings. March 27, 2009; "core" members (Muskoka 2010 G-8, official site).
  6. MOFA: Summit (19); European Union: "EU and the G8"
  7. [Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan|Sadruddin, Aga Khan]