The G8 Summit started yesterday in L'Aquila, which is located in the central Italian region of Abruzzo. The summit includes more than 8 countries, but more on that in a moment.
L'Aquila, the beautiful medieval city, which is near Abbateggio, the small mountain village where I was born, was recently devastated by a series of earthquakes; surrounding towns were also smashed. In L'Aquila alone 294 were killed and more than 50,000 left homeless.
L'Aquila, which means the eagle in Italian, was initially completed as a city in 1254. It is the capital of the region of Abruzzo and the cultural centre as well. L'Aquila is home to the Spanish Fort (Forte Spagnolo),which was constructed in 1534, and the church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, built in 1270. The church is a magnificent structure, and it is also where the hermit, Pietro del Morrone, was consecrated as Pope Celestine V.
In 1989, as Minister of Revenue in the David Peterson government, I assisted Premier Peterson on a trade mission to Italy. We brought more than 200 business leaders from Ontario on this important trade mission, and the entire delegation spent time in L'Aquila. As well, over the years I and my family have made several trips to L'Aquila.
The G8 Summit was originally planned to be held on the beautiful island of Sardinia. However, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi moved the location to L'Aquila, so Italians and others around the world would not easily forget the devastated city.
I have to tell you, I am getting a little sick and tired of all the protesters at the G8 and other world summits. Protesting, and strongly protesting, is one thing, no problem with that, but trying to stop these meetings from taking place is something else. If all of us stopped every meeting we didn't like, not even the protesters would be able to have a meeting.
Anyway, the G8 Summit was originally started in 1975, as a conference of the world's industrialized democracies, and includes, Canada (which joined in 1977), France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia, which formally joined the group in 1997. The G8 is informal in structure and does not have a permanent secretariat. But when leaders get together, important ideas are discussed and some of these ideas move forward, that is why non-member countries request invitations to these meetings. After all, G8 countries represent 49% of global exports, 51% of industrial output, and 49% of the assets in the International Monetary Fund.
The leaders, of course, get all the attention, but the agenda includes ministerial meetings, and ministers responsible for various portfolios discuss issues of mutual and global concern. The topics include health, labour, energy, terrorism, trade and much more.
The G8 has kind of a sub group, which includes Mexico, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil. Speculation is that the G8 will formally grow in size to anywhere from 13 to 16 members. Anyway, at this year's summit, 39 countries were invited, which in my view makes for a logistical nightmare and takes away from the original intent of the group. Democracies in the Northern Hemisphere do have common issues and concerns that they as a group should deal with. There are many other forums where other countries are included.
Some of the main topics for the 2009 G8 Summit are: the economic crises, how to boost international trade, climate change, development in the poorer countries, and for a complete agenda please click here. Whatever we think of these conferences, let's hope the results improve our world.
