15th G7 summit
The Grande Arche in La Défense at the outskirts of Paris
Host countryFrance
Dates14–16 July 1989
Venue(s)Grande Arche
CitiesParis
Follows14th G7 summit
Precedes16th G7 summit

The 15th G7 Summit was held in the business district of La Défense to the west of Paris, France between 14 and 16 July 1989. The venue for the summit meetings was the Grande Arche[1] which was rushed to completion for celebrations marking the bicentennial of the French Revolution and for the world economic summit meeting that was held in the top of the Arche.[2] This event was also called the "Summit of the Arch."[3]

The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (since 1976),[4] and the President of the European Commission (starting officially in 1981).[5] The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the first Group of Six (G6) summit in 1975.[6]

Leaders at the summit

The G7 is an unofficial annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[5]

The 15th G7 summit was the first summit for US President George H. W. Bush and was the last summit for Italian Prime Minister Ciriaco De Mita. It was also the first and only summit for Japanese Prime Minister Sōsuke Uno.

Participants

These summit participants are the current "core members" of the international forum:[7][1][8]

Core G7 members
Host state and leader are shown in bold text.
Member Represented by Title
Canada Canada Brian Mulroney Prime Minister
France France François Mitterrand President
West Germany West Germany Helmut Kohl Chancellor
Italy Italy Ciriaco De Mita Prime Minister
Japan Japan Sōsuke Uno Prime Minister
United Kingdom United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister
United States United States George H. W. Bush President
European Union European Community Jacques Delors Commission President
François Mitterrand Council President

The heads of state and government of over a dozen developing countries were also represented at this summit gathering in Paris.[9]

Issues

The summit was intended as a venue for resolving differences among its members. As a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions.[6] Issues which were discussed at this summit included:

  • International Economic Situation
  • International Monetary Developments and Coordination
  • Improving Economic Efficiency
  • Trade Issues
  • General Problems of Development
  • The Situation in the Poorest Countries
  • Strengthened Debt Strategy for the Heavily Indebted Countries
  • Environment
  • Drug Issues
  • International Cooperation against AIDS

Accomplishments

While the agenda-setting or parameter-setting functions of the summit are important, the associated action or inaction which comes afterwards is important as well. These remain conceptually distinct aspects of the G7 summits.[10]

A symbol of the mixed legacy of this summit is the Grande Arche itself. The total expenditure on the building reached 3.74 billion francs, all but 5.7 percent of which was covered by private investors, with the state remaining owner of the roof area;[2] and yet, in 2001, parts of the facade were falling off.[11] A Frommer's review in 2010 characterizes it as a "politician's folly."[12]

In 1989, the summit leaders called for "adoption of sustainable forest management practices, with a view to preserving the scale of the world's forests," but there is little evidence of follow-up action.[13]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): Summit Meetings in the Past.
  2. 1 2 "James, Barry. For the Grande Arche, Not-So-Grand Notices," New York Times. July 1, 1991.
  3. ↑ Hajnal, Peter I. (1999). The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books
  4. ↑ Saunders, Doug. "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," Archived 2008-10-11 at the Wayback Machine Globe and Mail (Toronto). July 5, 2008.
  5. 1 2 Reuters: "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?", July 3, 2008.
  6. 1 2 Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations, p. 205.
  7. ↑ Rieffel, Lex. "Regional Voices in Global Governance: Looking to 2010 (Part IV)," Archived June 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Brookings. March 27, 2009; "core" members (Muskoka 2010 G-8, official site). Archived June 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ MOFA: Summit (15); European Union: "EU and the G8" Archived 2007-02-26 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Markham, James M. "All French Divided Over How to Do the Fete," New York Times. June 18, 1989; "G7, G8, G10, G21, G22, G26," The Economist. retrieved July 5, 2010.
  10. ↑ Kokotsis, Eleonore. (1999). Keeping International Commitments: Compliance, Credibility, and the G7, 1988-1995, p. 32 n. 13., p. 32, at Google Books
  11. ↑ Knorr, Katherine. "Reassessing Mitterrand's Legacy : Of Monuments—and Monumental Errors," New York Times. May 3, 2001.
  12. ↑ "La Grande Arche de La Défense," New York Times. accessed 5 July 2010.
  13. ↑ Sadruddin, Aga Khan. "It's Time to Save the Forests," New York Times. July 19, 2000.

References

  • Bayne, Nicholas and Robert D. Putnam. (2000). Hanging in There: The G7 and G8 Summit in Maturity and Renewal. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-1185-1; OCLC 43186692
  • Hajnal, Peter I. (1999). The G8 system and the G20 : Evolution, Role and Documentation. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-4550-4; OCLC 277231920
  • Kokotsis, Eleonore. (1999). Keeping International Commitments: Compliance, Credibility, and the G7, 1988-1995. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8153-3332-6; OCLC 40460131
  • Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-16486-3; ISBN 978-0-203-45085-7; OCLC 39013643
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