G8

The Group of Eight (G8) is coalition of eight of the world's leading industrialized nations: the United Kingdom, France, Germany (West Germany to 1991), Italy, Japan, and the United States, (the G6, 1975), Canada (the G7, 1976), and Russia (1998), as well as the European Union. The hallmark of the G8 is an annual economic and political summit of the heads of state with international officials, though there are numerous subsidiary meetings and policy research. The G8 leaders as of 26 April 2004 are:

• Canada - Paul Martin\n*France - Jacques Chirac\n*Germany - Gerhard Schröder\n*Italy - Silvio Berlusconi\n*Japan - Koizumi Junichiro\n*Russia - Vladimir Putin\n*United Kingdom - Tony Blair\n*United States - George W. Bush
• European Union - President of the European Council, President of the European Commission and President of the European Parliament

The summits are often the focus of anti-globalization movement protests.

Past Summits

The location of the summit meetings rotate anually among member countries in the following order: France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada.

• In the year 2000, the G8 held a summit in Kyushu and Okinawa, Japan\n** http://www.summit-okinawa.gr.jp/
• On July 20, 2001 the G8 held a summit in Genoa, Italy; see Genoa Group of Eight Summit protest
• On June 26, 2002 the G8 began a summit meeting in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. J26 G8 Protests\n** http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/
• On June 1, 2003 the G8 began a summit meeting in Évian-les-Bains, France.\n** http://www.g8.fr/evian/index.html (official)\n** http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/evian/ (protests)
• On June 8, 2004 the G8 began a summit meeting in Sea Island, Georgia, USA. 2004 G8 Protests\n** http://g8usa.gov/ (official)\n** http://g8resistance.org/, http://www.nog8.org/ (protests)

Future Summits

• The G8 meeting in 2005 will take place in Gleneagles, Perthshire, Scotland from July 6-8.\n** http://www.perthshireg8.org.uk\n** http://www.dissent.org.uk (opposition)

\n*The G8 meeting in 2006 will take place in Russia.\n*The G8 meeting in 2007 will take place in Germany. \n*The G8 meeting in 2008 will take place in Japan. \n*The G8 meeting in 2009 will take place in Italy. \n*The G8 meeting in 2010 will take place in Canada. \nSee also : \nWorld Social Forum

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The Group of Eight is also an association of Australia's leading universities. \n\n