The member country holding the G8 presidency is responsible for organizing and hosting the year 's summit . The G8 summit is an international event which is observed and reported by news media , but the G8 's relevance is unclear . The member country holding the G8 presidency is responsible for organizing and hosting the year 's summit , held for three days in mid-year ; and for this reason , Tony Blair and the United Kingdom accumulated the lion 's share of the credit for what went right ( and wrong ) at Gleneagles in 2005 .