22nd G7 summit

The 22nd G7 Summit was held in Lyon, France, on June 27–29, 1996. The venue for this summit meeting was the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon (Musée d'art Contemporain de Lyon).[1] The locations of previous summits to have been hosted by France include: Rambouillet (1975), Versailles (1982) and Paris (1989).

22nd G7 summit
22nd G8 summit official logo
Host countryFrance
DatesJune 27–29, 1996
Follows21st G7 summit
Precedes23rd G8 summit
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon

The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (since 1976)[2] and the President of the European Commission (starting officially in 1981).[3] 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 Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the first Group of Six (G6) summit in 1975.[4]

A pre-summit was held in Moscow, Russia from April 19 to 20 to deal with nuclear security issues.

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.[3]

The 22nd G7 summit was the first summit for Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. It was also the last summit for British Prime Minister John Major.

Participants

These summit participants were the current "core members" of the international forum:[5][1][6][7]

Core G7 members
Host state and leader are shown in bold text.
Member Represented by Title
Canada Jean Chrétien Prime Minister
France Jacques Chirac President
Germany Helmut Kohl Chancellor
Italy Romano Prodi Prime Minister
Japan Ryutaro Hashimoto Prime Minister
United Kingdom John Major Prime Minister
United States Bill Clinton President
European Commission Jacques Santer President
Guest Invitees (Countries)
Member Represented by Title
Russia Viktor Chernomyrdin Prime Minister
Guest Invitees (International Institutions)
Member Represented by Title
International Monetary Fund Michel Camdessus Managing Director
United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali Secretary-General
World Bank James Wolfensohn President
World Trade Organization Renato Ruggiero Director-General

Priorities

Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda for negotiations, which take place primarily amongst multi-national civil servants in the weeks before the summit itself, leading to a joint declaration which all countries can agree to sign. President Chirac suggested that the main theme of the summit should be globalization.[8]

A French priority was the food; and the leaders did eat well. The first night of the three-day summit, they ate a dinner cooked by four chefs from towns and cities around Lyons whose restaurants have won three stars in the Michelin guide.[9] In a serious speech in a related forum at Lyon, the IMF's leader observations about the financial consequences of globalization mirrored this focus on gastronomy when he asked lightly, "Is not France's intellectual -— and culinary! -— capital a supremely well chosen site for deeper reflection and more visionary thought?"[10]

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.[4] Issues which were discussed at this summit included:

  • Strengthening Economic And Monetary Cooperation
  • Promoting Strong And Mutually Beneficial Growth Of Trade And Investment
  • Enhancing Our Approach To Employment Problems
  • Implementing A New Global Partnership For Development: An Ambition For The 21st Century
  • Enhancing The Effectiveness Of Multilateral Institutions For The Benefit Of Development
  • Providing The Necessary Multilateral Support For Development
  • Toward Successful Integration Of Countries In Transition Into The Global Economy

Accomplishments

This G7 summit was an international event was observed and reported by the world news media, with a resulting emphasis upon the worthy and the self-evident. The G7 summits have since mutated into media events,[11] but a few long notable innovations began in this context:

Financial crisis and stability

Work in connection with G7 concern about financial market stability began at the Lyon summit. The 1995 collapse of Barings Bank demonstrated the fragile and interconnected nature of modern financial markets; and it suggested inherent dangers of contagion and systemic collapse following a single event.[12] Subsequent meetings continued to explore the avenues for cooperation which were identified at Lyon.

Transnational organized Crime

Following the Halifax summit in 1995, a group of experts was brought together to investigate better ways to fight transnational crime. This group (later known as the "Lyon Group") proffered forty recommendations which were endorsed by the G7 heads of state at Lyon. The Lyon Group developed sub-groups to address specific crime-related issues (e.g., legal processes for evidence-sharing, high-tech crime, and immigration fraud and human trafficking); and these groups continued to work together in subsequent years.[13]

Terrorism

In the wake of a terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia shortly before the summit began, President Clinton tried to encourage discussion about mitigating the growth of international terrorism.[9] Clinton's push for adopting a 40-point list of recommendations against terrorism was good politics; but the elements were in fact only partly aimed at terrorism, being politically "recycled" from work of the task group on transnational crime.[11] The Lyon " Declaration on Terrorism" that was issued immediately after the Working Dinner of the G-7 leaders on June 27.[14]

Budget

Summit organizers estimate the costs at about $4 million, but they expected the visitors to spend more than $5 million.[15]

American spending was noteworthy. The U.S. delegation rented an entire hotel(167 rooms), which will serve as the unofficial White House during the Clintons' three-day stay. during the summit, the Sofitel Lyon Bellecour. Special modifications were made to accommodate the special requirements of the Americans. For example, one of the meeting rooms was specially equipped with more than 200 telephones, some of which were directly linked to the White House. The armored presidential limousine which was transported from Washington, D.C. via a jumbo jet; and it will be guarded and garaged at the hotel. Moreover, special generators were temporarily installed to accommodate extra electrical needs; and their capacity would be able to support lighting the entire city of Lyon.[16]

Organisation and logistics

The event took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The guests had lunch at the nearby Parc de la Tête d'Or rose garden and dinner at Leon de Lyon, a renowned Lyon restaurant.

With the occasion of the G7, Lyon organised fireworks and a concert featuring Bob Dylan and French rock star Johnny Hallyday. The first ladies were invited by Madame Chirac to a visit to the Beaujolais wine region.

A statue was inaugurated in the Parc de la Tete d'Or by the presidents with inspiration on the saying by Archimedes "Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I could lift the world."

See also

Notes
  1. Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): Summit Meetings in the Past.
  2. Saunders, Doug. "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," Globe and Mail (Toronto). July 5, 2008 -- n.b., the G7 becomes the G8 with the inclusion of Russia starting in 1997.
  3. Reuters: "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?", July 3, 2008.
  4. Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations, p. 205.
  5. 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
  6. MOFA: Summit (22); European Union: "EU and the G8" Archived February 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Evian summit: Previous G7 summits in France Archived 2013-02-13 at Archive.today.
  8. MOFA: Press conference, June 25, 1996.
  9. Apple, R.W. "Bombing in Saudi Arabia: the Policy; Clinton Asks Summit Partners to Join in Battle on Terrorism," New York Times. June 28, 1996.
  10. Camdessus, Michel. "The G7 in 1996: What is at Stake," Address at the Colloquium «Les Enjeux du G7». June 24, 1996.
  11. Friedman, Alan. "The G7 Summit in Lyon:Very Few Real Decisions," International Herald Tribune. July 1, 1996.
  12. Walker, George Alexander. (2001). International Banking Regulation, p. 283.
  13. G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministers: Archived 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine Background, transnational organized crime. Archived 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine May 11, 2004.
  14. MOFA: Press conference, June 28, 1996.
  15. Apple, R.W. "Reporter's Notebook;Hungry for Respect, France's 2d City Puts On Its Best for Visitors," New York Times. June 29, 1996.
  16. "Sofitel Lyon Bellecour prepares for visit from President Clinton," Business Wire. June 21, 1996.

References
  • Bayne, Nicholas and Robert D. Putnam. (2000). Hanging in There: The G7 and G8 Summit in Maturity and Renewal. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-1185-1; OCLC 43186692
  • 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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