how the group of seven g 7 works
the major purpose of the g 7 is to discuss and sometimes act in concert to help resolve global problems with a special focus on economic issues since its inception in the early 1970s the group has discussed financial crises monetary systems and major world crises such as oil shortages the g 7 has also launched initiatives to fund issues and relieve crises where it sees an opportunity for joint action those efforts include several aimed at debt relief for developing nations in 1996 working with the world bank the g 7 launched an initiative for the 42 heavily indebted poor countries hipc along with a multilateral debt relief initiative mdri a 2005 pledge to cancel the international development association debt of countries that have gone through the mdri program the amount of money the g 7 provided in 1997 to help build the containment of the reactor meltdown at chernobyl in 1999 the group also decided to get more directly involved in managing the international monetary system by creating the financial stability forum fsb the fsb is made up of major national financial authorities such as finance ministers central bankers and international financial bodies history of the group of seven g 7 the origins of the group date back to the early 1970s when leaders of the u s u k france west germany and japan met informally in paris to discuss the then recession and oil crisis that in turn inspired french president val ry giscard d estaing to invite the leaders of those countries plus italy to rambouillet in 1975 for further discussions on global oil this time with the country s leaders joining the finance ministers an attendance roster that has endured the next year canada was invited to join the group the host of the g7 summit also known as the presidency rotates annually among member countries in the following order france united states united kingdom germany japan italy and canada the g 7 has responded as the global economy has evolved including when the soviet union pledged to create an economy with freer markets and held its first direct presidential election in 1991 following a 1994 g 7 meeting in naples president boris yeltsin held meetings with g 7 member countries in what became known as the p 8 political 8 in 1998 after urging from leaders including u s president bill clinton russia was added to the g 7 as a full member creating a formal group of eight or g 8 the g 8 ended up being short lived in 2014 russia was suspended from the group after the annexation of crimea and tensions in ukraine as of 2021 russia has not been invited back to the g 7 the group of seven g 7 vs the group of 20 g 20 as developing nations began to represent a larger part of the global economy the absence of a forum about international financial matters that included those emerging economies became more glaring in response the group of 20 g 20 was created in 1999 comprising all the members of the g 7 plus 12 additional countries and the eu as the economies and trade activity of markets such as china brazil india mexico and south africa all g 20 members surge many observers now see the g 20 as usurping much of the role and eminence once held by the g 7 2021 g7 summitfrom june 11 to june 13 2021 the g7 met in cornwall england according to statements released from the group many of the discussions at the 2021 summit focused on two distinct issues the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis the g7 committed to distributing 1 billion vaccine doses over the next 12 months in response to the climate crisis the group committed to the following actions achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 limiting the increase in global temperatures to 1 5 degrees increasing and improving climate finance and conserving at least 30 of our land and oceans by 2030 