Quezi

Protestor with a "G20 Summit Monster" (photo by World Development Movement - CC-BY)

The G-7 is an informal forum for the finance ministers of seven big industrial economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. It was formed in 1976 to discuss economic issues and seek agreement. It superseded the G-6 which didn’t include Canada.

There’s also the G-8 which adds Russia to the G7 countries (and the European Union is also invited in a limited capacity). The G8 holds an annual meeting of heads of government rather than finance ministers.

But where is China, you may ask? It’s one of several obvious missing countries, and indeed sometimes the G8 broaden their meetings a little by including the Outreach Five (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) resulting in the G8+5. Other countries that have been sometimes been invited to G8 summits include Afghanistan, Algeria, Australia, Bahrein, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, El Salvador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda and Yemen.

The composition of the G8 is somewhat similar to the 8-Nation Alliance which in 1900 invaded China and put down the Boxer Uprising: Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

The G-20 is an organization established in 1999 to discuss key issues of the global economy with a view to “reducing the world economy’s susceptibility to crises”. The members are a self-selected group of “systemically important industrialized and developing economies”, and are represented by their finance ministers and central bank governors.

The participants are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States of America. The European Union gets the 20th seat, and there are also a few invited guests: the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the president of the World Bank, the chair of the World Bank, and the chairs of a couple of committees of the IMF. The participating countries represent 85% of global GNP, 80% of world trade and two-thirds of the world’s people.

The G-20 was preceded by the G33 Industrialized Countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States.

Before the G33 was the G22 (or Willard Group), comprising Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, the UK and the USA.

The N-11 are eleven countries which Goldman Sachs considered in 2005 to have a high potential of becoming the world’s largest economies this century: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and Vietnam.

Some of these countries are also part of the D-8 (Developing Eight) muslim nations: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

The G11 is a forum for developing countries who are desperate to get out of debt and lift their millions out of poverty: Jordan, Croatia, Ecuador, Georgia, El Salvador, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay and Sri Lanka. They communicate with the G8, whom they hope to provoke into action.

There’s also the G20 group of developing nations (not to be confused with the G20 industrialized nations). Currently it has 23 members: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. It’s core leadership (the G4 bloc) comprises Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

Finally the G33 developing countries (not to be confused with the G33 industrialized nations) coordinate on trade and economic issues. They are: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Botswana, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guyana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Senegal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.