The so-called Group of Seven was formed in the 70s of the twentieth century. It can hardly be called a full-fledged organization. It is rather a simple international forum. Nonetheless, the G-7 countries listed in this article have an impact on the global political arena.
Briefly about G7
“Big Seven,” “Group of Seven,” or simply G7 - in the world this club of leading states is called differently. It is a mistake to call this forum an international organization, since this community does not have its own charter and secretariat. And the decisions adopted by the G7 are not binding.
Initially, the abbreviation G7 was used to decode "Group of Seven" (in the original: Group of Seven). However, Russian journalists in the early 1990s interpreted it as the Great Seven. After that, the term "Big Seven" was fixed in Russian journalism.
Our article lists all the G7 countries (the list is presented below), as well as their capital.
The history of the formation of the international club
Initially, the "Group of Seven" had the format G6 (Canada joined the club a little later). The leaders of the six leading states of the planet first met in this format in November 1975. The meeting was initiated by French President Valerie Giscard D'Estaing. The main topics of that meeting were the problems of unemployment, inflation, as well as the global energy crisis.
In 1976, Canada joined the group, and in the 1990s, the G7 also replenished with Russia, gradually transforming into the G8.
The idea of creating such a forum was in the air in the early 70s of the last century. The power of this world was pushed to similar thoughts by the energy crisis, as well as the aggravation of relations between Europe and the United States. Since 1976, the G7 holds its meetings annually.
The following section lists all the G7 countries. The list includes the capitals of all these states. Representatives from each country are also indicated (as of 2015).
G7 countries (list)
Which states are part of the G7 today?
Listed below are all the G7 countries (list) and their capitals:
- USA, Washington (representative - Barack Obama).
- Canada, Ottawa (Justin Trudeau).
- Japan, Tokyo (Shinzo Abe).
- Great Britain, London (David Cameron).
- Germany, Berlin (Angela Merkel).
- France, Paris (Francois Hollande).
- Italy, Rome (Mateo Renzi).
If you look at the political map, we can conclude that the countries included in the G-7 are concentrated exclusively in the northern hemisphere of the planet. Four of them are located in Europe, one in Asia, two more states are located in America.
G-7 Summits
Countries included in the G7 meet annually at their summits. Meetings are held alternately in the cities of each state from among the members of the "Group". This unspoken rule is valid until today.
A number of famous cities hosted the G7 summits: London, Tokyo, Bonn, St. Petersburg, Munich, Naples and others. Some of them managed to receive leading world politicians twice or even thrice.
The themes of the G7 meetings are different. In the 1970s, issues of inflation and unemployment were most often raised, the problem of the rapid increase in oil prices was discussed, and a dialogue was established between East and West. In the 1980s, the G7 was worried about AIDS and the rapidly growing population of the Earth. In the early 1990s, the world experienced a lot of major geopolitical disasters (the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia, the formation of new states, the unification of Germany , etc.). Of course, all these processes have become the main topic of discussion at the G7 summits.
The new millennium has set before the world community new global problems: climate change, food security, poverty, local military conflicts and others.
The Big Seven and Russia
In the mid-90s, Russia began to actively introduce itself into the work of the G-7. Already in 1997, the G7, in fact, changes its format and turns into a G8.
The Russian Federation remained a member of the elite international club until 2014. In June, the country even prepared to host the G8 summit in Sochi. However, the leaders of the remaining seven states refused to take part in it, and the summit was moved to Brussels. The reason for this was the conflict in Ukraine and the fact of the accession of the Crimean peninsula to the territory of the Russian Federation. The leaders of the USA, Canada, Germany and other G7 countries do not yet see the opportunity to return Russia to the G7.
Finally...
The G-7 countries (the list of which is presented in this article), without a doubt, have a significant impact on world politics. Throughout its history, the G7 has held dozens of meetings and forums to discuss pressing issues and global issues. G7 members are USA, Canada, Japan, UK, Germany, France and Italy.