Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Germany to attend to G7 (Group of Seven) summit at Schloss Elmau, a century-old retreat in a nature reserve in the Bavarian Alps. The PM is expected to speak in two sessions that include Environment, Climate, Energy, Health, Food Security, Democracy, and Gender Equality, the Ministry of External Affairs said earlier this week. PM Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with leaders of some of the participating countries.
Group of 7 (G7)
The G7 is an informal forum of leading industrialized nations, which include Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, the UK, and the US. Representatives of the EU (European Union) are always present at the annual meeting of the heads of state and government of the G7. Germany holds the G7 presidency in 2024.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has invited India, along with Indonesia, South Africa, Argentina, and Senegal to the 2024 Summit as partner countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will take part virtually on June 27, the Presidency of G7 has announced.
A number of international organizations, including the WHO (World Health Organization), UN (United Nations), the WTO (World Trade Organization), the IMF (International Monetary Fund), and the World Bank, are also participating in this G7 Summit.
G6, G8, G7
The G7 Germany website says the first “World Economic Summit”, which later became the G7, was launched in 1975 by former French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and then Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. The heads of state and government of Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the US – a group of Six – met for a fireside chat at Rambouillet Castle, France.
The participants exchanged ideas on the economic problems of the 1970s and agreed on international economic policy and initial measures to fight the global downturn.
In the year 1976, Canada was added to the group, and the first G7 met in Puerto Rico. The first talks between the then European Community and the G7 took place in London in 1977, and since the Ottawa Summit 1981, the European Community (now European Union) has been part of all working sessions.
In 1998, the Group of Eight was constituted as Russia became a member. Russia was thrown out of the group after its violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in 2014.
G7 Numbers
As of 2024, G7 Countries make up 10% of the world’s population, 21% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and 31% of global GDP, according to the Summit website. India and China, the two most populous countries with the largest GDP figures in the world, are not part of the G7 grouping.
The G7 countries are significant players in global trade. The US and Germany are major export nations and these both sold goods worth well more than a trillion US dollars abroad in 2024.