38th G8 summit

The 38th G8 summit was held at Camp David, Maryland in the United States on May 18-19, 2012.^[1] The summit venue was moved from Chicago to rural Maryland in March 2012.^[2]

Summit logo

History

The Camp David summit of the Group of Eight (G8) was the 38th meeting in a series which began in 1976.^[3]

Previous G8 summits have been hosted by the United States at San Juan, Puerto Rico (1976); Williamsburg, Virginia (1983); Houston, Texas, Denver, Colorado (1997) and Sea Island, Georgia.^[4]

The G8 and the summit are part of a consultation process. The G8 is not an international organization.^[5] It is an informal group.^[6]

Participants

The participants were the "core members" of the group:^[7]

Core G8 members Host nation and leader are indicated in bold text.
Member		Represented by	Title
	Canada	Stephen Harper[8]	Prime Minister
	France	François Hollande[9]	President
	Germany	Angela Merkel[9]	Chancellor
	Italy	Mario Monti[10]	Prime Minister
	Japan	Yoshihiko Noda[11]	Prime Minister
	Russia	Dmitry Medvedev[12]	Prime Minister
	United Kingdom	David Cameron[13]	Prime Minister
	United States	Barack Obama[8]	President
	European Commission	Jose Manuel Barroso[9]	President
	European Council	Herman Van Rompuy[9]	President

Invited leaders

Food security was the focus of a working lunch with African leaders who were invited.

A number of national leaders are traditionally invited to attend the summit. They are asked to participate in some, but not all, G8 summit activities. The leaders of four African nations were invited by the US president:

•  Benin Yayi Boni, President^[14]

•  Ethiopia Meles Zenawi Prime Minister^[14]

•  Ghana John Atta-Mills, President^[14]

•  Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete, President^[14]

The G8 leaders talked about making progress towards food security in Africa.^[15]

Others were invited, including:

• African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, President^[10]

• African Union Yayi Boni, Chairperson^[10]

• Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Strive Masiyiwa, Chairman^[16]

Schedule and Agenda

President Barack Obama hosts a working dinner on May 18. Seated clockwise from the President are: David Cameron, Dmitry Medvedev, Angela Merkel, Herman Van Rompuy, José Manuel Barroso, Yoshihiko Noda, Mario Monti, Stephen Harper and François Hollande.

The summit is intended as a venue for resolving differences among the G8 members.^[17]

Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda.^[18]

Discussions at the 38th G8 summit included some issues from previous summits.^[19]

The G8 discussions included a range of topics, including

• Energy^[20]
• Afghanistan^[20]
• Changes taking place across the Middle East and North Africa^[20]
• Climate change^[20]
• Food security^[20]
• Greece in the euro zone^[21]
• Iran’s nuclear energy plans^[21]
• Nutrition^[20]

Protesters and demonstrations

Security in the region of the presidential home at Camp David is well established

Planners anticipated protest groups and other activists.^[22]

When the venue for the summit was changed from Chicago, a White House spokesman said security and the possibility of protests were not factors in the decision.^[23] Some protest groups took credit for the change of venue.^[24]

Business opportunity

For some, the G8 summit was a profit-generating event; as for example, the G8 Summit magazines which have been published since 1998.^[25]

Local businesses near Camp David are expecting more people in the area and profits because of the summit.^[26]

Related pages

• List of G8 summits