G8: 8,9,10 July, Issues , Programme outline of the G8 L’Aquila Summit

Participants: The G8 is not an international organization, nor does it have an administrative headquarters with a permanent secretariat. It is rather a process that culminates in an annual Summit at which the Heads of State and Government of the member countries hold talks with a view to finding solutions of the main world issues. The main industrialised countries taking part in this process are known as the Group of Eight (G8). Over recent years, the Group of Eight has involved the main countries with emerging economies, known as the Group of Five (G5), in a process of dialogue (outreach). G8 Countries The members of the Group of Eight, or G8, are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The eight members meet once a year at Heads of State and Government level. France, the United States and Russia are represented by their Heads of State, whereas the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada are represented by their respective Heads of Government. The Main Issues In the course of the news conference in which he presented the 2009 G8 Summit, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, speaking in his capacity as President of the G8, summed up the main points on the agenda for debate at the Summit which is to be held in l’Aquila from 8 to 10 July. Economic Crisis and a Boost to Growth: New Ground Rules Positive pointers to improvement in the economy are starting to emerge and it is important to support families' and businesses' confidence in order to rapidly trigger economic recovery. The current economic and financial crisis has highlighted certain crucial weaknesses in the global economy, which have helped to trigger and to spread the crisis itself. Hence the need to thrash out a code of shared ground rules for the world of the economy and of finance with specific, clear criteria and with the establishment of supervisory bodies and tools. One of the issues on the agenda at the G8 Summit in l’Aquila will be a strategy designed to put together a series of common principles governing the rules of propriety, integrity and transparency in international finance and business ( Global Standard ). Imparting a Fresh Boost to International Trade Another crucial factor in combating the economic crisis and in imparting a fresh boost to growth is international trade: the aim of the Summit in l’Aquila is to impart a new thrust to the Doha talks on world trade, in order to help ensure that the talks are successfully completed as rapidly as possible. Achieving an ambitious and balanced agreement would make it possible to boost global exports and to support development in the poorer countries by offering them improved access to markets in the wealthy countries. People First People first: that is the 2009 G8 Summit's message. The international community is living through one of its most serious economic and financial crises since World War II. If we are to make it through this crisis, we have to consider its social aspect and to place people in the centre of government action by pursuing policies designed to restore people's confidence. Countries must continue to implement strategies capable of reducing the impact of the crisis on employment, and of ensuring that welfare and social safeguard systems are both effective and sustainable. Climate Changes The struggle against climate changes is one of the Italian Presidency's priorities on the G8 Agenda. It is necessary to define a global response in which the leadership and commitment of the industrially advanced countries is paralleled by an active contribution from the emerging and developing countries on the basis of a balanced sharing of responsibilities. In that sense, the l’Aquila G8 Summit, which will also be hosting the first ever meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) at leadership level, is going to be a vital step in paving the way for the success of the United Nations Conference in Copenhagen next December. Development in the Poorer Countries and in Africa The Summit will be broadcasting a strong message designed to attenuate the impact of the crisis on developing Countries , an impact that is jeopardizing the progress made to date in the struggle against poverty. It plans to do this by putting together a "rescue package" entailing: confirmation of the G8's commitment to development aid; the use of innovative financial tools; halving the cost of emigrants' remittance transactions; and imparting a fresh boost to international trade; not to mention the debt issue. The G8 will be promoting a new approach to backing development in the poorer countries based on the involvement of the "country system" as a whole. This, in order to make the most of the role played by all of the actors (governments, local authorities, private individuals and civil society) and all of the available resources and policies -- in both donor and destination countries -- in boosting growth and development in the poorer countries. The issue of development is to be addressed, with differing nuances, both at the G8 sessions and at the sessions with the emerging and African countries. Food Safety and Security, and Access to Water Over 1 billion people are currently suffering from starvation or malnutrition. The situation has been aggravated by insufficient investment in farming over the past few decades, and by the economic crisis. All of the leaders attending the l’Aquila summit will be signing a joint declaration with the International Organizations and launching an important initiative on food safety and security, to fund farming and to support the struggle against starvation. Moreover, the G8 under Italy's presidency is committed to laying the groundwork for launching a G8-Africa Partnership designed to improve access to water and to basic sanitary facilities, before the end of the year. Health World health has traditionally been one of the central issues on the G8 group's agenda, and the Italian Presidency plans to continue devoting particular attention to it. The key topics will include strengthening health systems and cutting infant mortality and death during childbirth. On the basis of the experience garnered in the launch of the Global Fund at the G8 Summit in Genoa in 2001, there is to be ongoing support for programmes designed to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, also through the exploration of innovative forms of funding. International Political Issues The G8 Summit will also be addressing the most important political issues on the international agenda: the commitment to making progress on the nuclear non-proliferation front, the situation in Iran and in the Middle East, the struggle against terrorism, the stabilization of the Afghanistan and Pakistan region, and the situation in North Korea. Programme outline of the G8 LAquila Summit LAquila, 8 – 10 July 2009 8 July 13.00 – 15.00 G8 Working Lunch (World Economy) Photo: G8 15.30 – 17.30 G8 Working Session (Global Issues) Opportunity for press conference Bilateral meetings 20.30 G8 Working Dinner (International Issues) *Italy, Canada, France, United States, United Kingdom, Russian Federation, Germany, Japan, EU Commission + EU Presidency (Sweden) 9 July Bilateral meetings 10.00 – 12.00 Working Session G8 + Brazil, Peoples Republic of China, India, Mexico, South Africa + Egypt (Global Issues/Development Policies) Photo: G8 + Brazil, Peoples Republic of China, India, Mexico, South Africa + Egypt 12.30 – 14.30 Working Lunch G8 + Brazil, Peoples Republic of China, India, Mexico, South Africa + Egypt + IEA , ILO , IMF , OECD , UN , WB , WTO (Future sources of growth) 14.30 – 15.00 Junior 8 (Leaders will meet with young representatives from G8+ Brazil, Peoples Republic of China, India, Mexico, South Africa + Egypt) 15.00 – 18.30 Major Economies Forum format meetings Opportunity for press conference Bilateral meetings 20.30 Dinner hosted by the President of the Italian Republic (G8 + Brazil, Peoples Republic of China, India, Mexico, South Africa + Egypt + Australia, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Denmark + Netherlands, Spain, Turkey + Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal + Commission of the African Union + IEA , ILO , IMF , OECD , UN , WB , WTO + FAO , IFAD , WFP ) 10 July 8.30 – 10.00 Working Breakfast G8 + Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa + African Union Commission + IEA , ILO , IMF , OECD , UN , WB , WTO (Impact of the crisis on Africa) 10.30 – 12.30 Working Session on Food Security (G8 + Brazil, Peoples Republic of China, India, Mexico, South Africa + Egypt + Australia, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Denmark + Netherlands, Spain, Turkey + Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal + Commission of the African Union + IEA , ILO , IMF , OECD , UN , WB , WTO + FAO , IFAD , WFP ) Photo: all Heads of Delegation 13.00 Final Press Conference of the G8 Chair The Junior 8 Summit The Junior 8 Summit, or J8, is an annual forum involving youngsters aged 14 to 17 hailing from all over the world. Boys and girls chosen to represent G8 member States and other emerging countries (China, Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico) and this year Egypt, address the same issues as those on the Summit agenda and draft recommendations for the leaders. This opportunity to reach shared decisions and to establish a common strategy in a framework based on intercultural debate allows the girls and boys involved to build up an experience of lofty civic value. The J8 first met in 2006 on the sidelines of the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg and meetings have been held every year since then. There were 39 J8 delegates at the Summit in Toyako, Japan. Their comments and recommendations on climate change, health, poverty and development were enshrined in the Chitose Declaration and in the Young People Action Plan that accompanied it. The youngsters taking part in the J8 are chosen by the UNICEF National Committees in the G8 member countries. Each country is responsible for its own team and follows its own procedure, while complying with the principle of transparency and with such criteria as gender parity and knowledge of English. Italy selected the boys and girls who will be representing their country at the J8 2009 Summit. A team of four girls and boys has been selected from each of the 14 participating countries. During the J8, a delegation composed of a representative from each country will have the chance to discuss the proposals that emerge from the J8 with the Heads of State and Government on l’Aquila. The topics this year are AIDS, climate change, poverty and economic development. The youngsters will also be able to select a topic they believe it important to place on the G8s international agenda. For further information please consult the www.j8summit.com/it site. Programme 6 July The official inauguration ceremony is scheduled to be held in the evening at the Sala Polifunzionale della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri. The event is being organized with the cooperation of UNICEF, the Italian Prime Minister's Office, the Interior Ministry, the Education Ministry, the Youth Ministry and the Rome Municipal Authority. 7 July On the second day the representatives of the Junior 8 Summit, who are being hosted by the Higher Firefighting Institute in Rome, will be meeting in working groups to debate ways and means of addressing and resolving the world's problems. An initial working session devoted to the drafting of a J8 Declaration for submission to the heads of state and government leaders attending the G8 Summit in l’Aquila will be held in the late afternoon. 8 July On the third day, the Junior 8 teams will continue to hold debates, with the youngsters presenting the draft of the J8 Declaration in the course of a Plenary Assembly. In the afternoon a delegation composed of a representative from each of the 14 participating countries will have the chance to discuss the J8 Declaration with the Heads of State and Government working in the G8 Summit's sessions in l’Aquila. 9 July This is to be a day of official meetings for the young people in the Junior 8, starting with a meeting with Chamber of Deputies Speaker Gianfranco Fini in the morning. In the afternoon, a delegation comprising one representative from each of the 14 countries involved will be meeting with the world leaders gathered in l’Aquila for the G8 Summit, to discuss the J8 Declaration. The meeting will be followed by a news conference. 10 July On the final day of the Junior 8 Summit, the youngsters will be debating and assessing their meetings and the results of their discussions with the heads of state and government leaders the previous day. An official closing ceremony with Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno is scheduled for the afternoon, followed by a guided tour of the Capitoline Museums and of the Imperial Fora. What Is G8 Africa? G8 Africa is a process of dialogue between the African countries and the G8, designed to strengthen and promote relations with Africa and to further the continent's social and economic development. With their pledge to endow the Partnership With Africa with formal institutional dignity, the G8 leaders' aimed to place the African continent firmly on their international agenda's list of priorities. The premise for this new focus was the awareness that Africa has been deprived of the international community's much-needed attention for far too long. It was a way of recognizing the inadequacies of the past. African Heads of State and Government leaders (Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa) were invited to the G8 Summit for the very first time in 2001 to present their New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) project. On that occasion the African leaders reaffirmed the importance of their initiative for promoting development, based on adopting an independent approach to handling problems, on sharing responsibility, and on cooperating with the G8. The NEPAD's founding principles reaffirm: the will of the continent's peoples to redeem and to reappropriate their own future (ownership); the fact that a sharing of responsibility highlights, on the one hand, the African countries' commitment to improving their own ability to govern and, on the other, the G8 countries' commitment to guaranteeing more and better aid to the African continent, also by starting to seriously address and enact debt cancellation and by lifting tariff and other barriers that hinder the access of African produce to the international markets (mutual responsibility); the fact that the new Partnership between the G8 and Africa is designed to underscore the leading industrially advanced democracies' political will to broaden and deepen their relations with the African countries, both by backing Africa's efforts to address crucial development issues, and by closely cooperating with the pan-African institutions on peacekeeping, on consolidating democratic institutions on the continent, and on promoting economic and social development (partnership). The mutual nature of the commitments is a choice to which there is no alternative today, a choice that is farsighted in that it translates into a concrete proposal based on a clear sharing of responsibiliy between the leading industrially advanced democracies and the countries on the African continent. The historic dialogue between Africa and the leading industrially advanced democracies, which first got under way under Italy's G8 presidency at the summit in Genoa in 2001, has continued to be pursued at all subsequent G8 summits, with the leaders welcoming and showing their support for the proposals illustrated by the African countries by drafting the G8's African Action Plan (AAP), and by institutionalizing the role of the G8 countries' personal representative for the African countries on a permanent basis. This section of the website is devoted to exploring in greater depth the path that led to G8 Africa's establishment, the development of the G8 Africa process, and the goals that the Italian presidency has set itself in its determination to continue to strengthen the process. Other Countries The purpose of the G8 – the main industrialised democracies forum for dialogue – is to come up with fresh answers to the main global political and economic issues. In addition to its traditional members, the Italian duty Presidency has invited to the G8 Summit the countries that make up the Major Economies Forum, the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) founder states, the representatives of the African Union and Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands. Other countries invited Egypt Hosni Mubarak, President MEF (Major Economies Forum) countries Australia Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister Republic of Korea Lee Myung-bak, President Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President Denmark (the country hosting next Decembers UN Conference on Climate Change) Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Prime Minister African countries Angola José Eduardo dos Santos, President Algeria (NEPAD's Founder) Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President Nigeria (NEPAD's Founder) Umaru YarAdua, President Senegal (NEPAD's Founder) Abdoulaye Wade, President NEPAD's chair Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia African Union Muammar al-Gaddafi, African Union chair (Libya) Jean Ping, African Union Commission chair Additional Countries Netherlands Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister Spain José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister