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G8 considers inviting China, India, others
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-10 09:12
Faced with the growing importance of developing countries, the rich club of
G8 nations mulled different ideas on Wednesday for holding regular talks with
countries like China and India.
The G8 summit
leaders (L-R) Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, European Commissioner
Romano Prodi, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Canadian Prime Minister
Paul Martin, French President Jacques Chirac, Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Russian President
Vladimir Putin, U.S. President George W. Bush, and Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi stand on the beach at Sea Island, Georgia for official
group photograph, June 9, 2004. [Reuters] |
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said
he had floated the idea of holding summits of the Group of 20 -- which includes
the Group of Eight leading industrial nations but adds other important countries
-- in addition to G8 summits.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the leaders were thinking of
inviting China and India into the G8 itself.
"It doesn't make much sense for us to talk about the economy of the future
without two countries that are protagonists on the world stage," Berlusconi told
reporters during a break in talks at the annual G8 summit.
The G8 comprises the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy,
Canada and Russia.
Berlusconi said the leaders discussed the strength of the Chinese economy.
"But we said that we shouldn't be afraid of China because it is a huge
consumer market and the idea was put forward to call China and India to join the
G8, making it the G9 or G10," Berlusconi said.
A Canadian official said: "The G8 needs to acknowledge that global power and
influence are not uniquely in the hands of the G8."
The issue of whether the G8 is inclusive enough comes up virtually every
year, and another Canadian official said talks were only in a preliminary stage.
But Martin held out the possibility of a G20 summit next year.
"Canada's idea is gaining a lot of support. Is it for today? No. Could it be
done at the beginning of next year? I think so. The possibility is improving,"
he said in French.
The G8 took root in 1975 when French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing
invited what was then the Group of Six to a fireside chat about the world
economy in Rambouillet, near Paris.
Canada and Russia joined later.
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