SUMMIT S A I N T P E T E R S B U R G , R U S S I A • J U LY 1 5 - 1 7 2 0 0 6

2006 2006 G8 SUMMIT PUBLICATION • SPECIAL VIP, DELEGATE AND PRESS EDITION

SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES ON: • ENHANCING GLOBAL EDUCATION • GLOBAL ENERGY SECURITY • FIGHTING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

PLUS: A POLITICAL & ECONOMIC OVERVIEW OF G8 MEMBER NATIONS & THEIR LEADERS INCLUDING RUSSIA, FRANCE, USA, GREAT BRITAIN, JAPAN, ITALY, CANADA, GERMANY AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 1 Editorial and Content: John Schaefer Sarah Wright Joseph Schappert, M.D. Sara Baldwin Dylan Ford Kelly Schaefer 6 12

Design and Creative: SchaeferDesign

Photography/Images: John Schaefer iStock.com Kelly Schaefer

Special Thanks to: John Schaefer Jon Lamé Sarah Wright Joseph Schappert, M.D. Sara Baldwin 18 24 Dylan Ford

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2006 G8 SUMMIT PUBLICATION

page 5 A Message From the Host

FROM RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN

page 6 2006 G8 Summit Focus – Global Energy Security A MOMENT OF OPPORTUNITY – by Sarah Wright with Sara Baldwin

page 12 2006 G8 Summit Focus – Education THE GLOBAL CLASSROOM – by John Schaefer

page 18 2006 G8 Summit Focus – Fighting Infectious Diseases A PERFECT STORM – by Joseph Schappert, M.D. and Dylan Ford

page 24 G8 Summit Leaders – Personal Profiles

page 34 G8 Summit Nations – At a Glance GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS, ECONOMY AND FOREIGN RELATIONS

2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 3 A Message From the Host Russian President Vladimir Putin

This will be the first time that Russia will chair this respected international forum. I hope that the experience we have accumulated since joining the G8 will ensure respect for tradition and consolidation of our efforts. Russia, as the presiding country, regards it as its duty to give a fresh impetus to efforts to find solutions to key international problems in energy, education and healthcare.

This year, we plan to urge our partners to redouble efforts to ensure global Official address energy security. We believe that today, it is crucial to find a solution to a to visitors of problem which directly influences the social and economic development of all countries, without exception. I am convinced that our efforts Saint Petersburg towards attaining this goal should be comprehensive and must stimulate stabilization of the global energy markets, development of innovation and the 2006 technologies, use of renewable energy sources and protection of the G8 Summit environment. We believe that today, we must think very seriously about ways to bridge the gap between energy-sufficient and energy-lacking countries of the world.

The spread of all kinds of epidemics in the world emphasizes the need to step up the fight against infectious diseases. We are convinced that the creation of a global system to monitor dangerous diseases, the development of regular interaction between experts from different states, and broader exchange of research information about dangerous viruses will have a major positive influence on the solution of these serious problems.

In addition to the current agenda, we also plan to raise the issue of education in the G8. In our opinion, the time has come to focus on ways to improve the quality and effectiveness of national education systems and professional training. We must find tools for encouraging the international business community to increase investment into this sector.

Other major international issues we will concentrate on during Russia’s Presidency are counterterrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the settlement of regional conflicts, the development of the global economy, finance and trade, as well as protection of the environment.

I hope that the official site of Russia’s G8 Presidency will help you to get your bearings in the multitude of questions and problems facing us, as well as to learn more about the efforts of G8 member states to solve them in order to promote the sustainable development of humankind.

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4 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 5 2006 G8 SUMMIT FOCUS GLOBAL ENERGY SECURITY A Moment of Opportunity: A Clean and Secure Global

Energy System By Sarah Wright with Sara Baldwin

Energy decisions made today will have a profound a significant role in meeting future energy needs. At the influence on the environment, economy and society for same time, resources such as energy efficiency, solar, generations to come. As countries around the globe wind, geothermal, biomass, clean coal technologies work to develop energy resources, increase access and advanced natural gas technologies are relatively to energy services, and meet increasing demand, it is untapped but hugely promising. The latter resources offer imperative that efforts are made to address the complex viable, stable, and secure energy options that will help and interconnected issues of the world’s energy situation, address the challenges associated with our current global giving adequate consideration of the environmental, energy system. social, and economic impacts of global energy choices. A MOMENT OF OPPORTUNITY The current global energy situation presents a Despite the daunting nature of the global energy number of complex problems: challenge, the world faces a unique moment of opportunity. According to the G8 2005 Summit • The increased use of energy from fossil fuels and other Gleneagles Plan of Action: Climate Change, Clean human activities contribute to increases in greenhouse Energy and Sustainable Development, an estimated gases associated with climate change. This serious $16 trillion will need to be invested in the world’s energy and long-term challenge has the potential to affect systems over the next 25 years, and “there are significant every part of the globe. opportunities to invest this capital cost-effectively in • Global energy demands are expected to grow by cleaner energy technologies and energy efficiency. 60% over the next 25 years. Rising demand places Because decisions being taken today could lock in increasing pressure on energy supplies, energy investment and increase emissions for decades to come, generation and delivery systems. Increased demand it is important to act wisely now.” also contributes to increases in greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change. The global potential for distributed energy, renewable • Rising energy demand poses a challenge to energy, energy efficiency, and clean, inexhaustible energy energy security given increased reliance on global technologies is tremendous. Wind and solar are the energy markets. fastest growing energy resources in the world, yet they still • The use of energy from fossil fuels contributes to represent a small percentage of the total global energy environmental pollution and public health problems, supply. Renewable energy resources are experiencing and those living in poverty are often disproportionately Reliable, clean, and secure energy is essential to global economic development, a surge in the global energy market as businesses, impacted by associated environmental degradation individuals, local governments, and nations actively environmental sustainability, and the socio-economic well-being of people worldwide. and diseases. pursue more sustainable and secure energy systems. • Approximately 2 billion people lack modern energy For example, the photovoltaic sector has experienced services worldwide, posing a tremendous challenge to one of the highest growth rates worldwide (over 30% in meet this rising demand. 2003) and for the 20 next years, the average production growth rate is estimated to be between 27% and 34% Conventional energy resources, such as oil, natural gas, annually. The global wind energy sector experienced a coal and hydropower, have been and will continue to play 40.5% increase in annual additions to the global market in »

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2005, yet wind power still only represents about 1% several decades.” The transition to clean and renewable and provides price-stable widely distributed energy. c. Phase out subsidies to conventional energy sources of the total global energy supply. Wind power could easily energy resources requires cooperation from all sectors Renewable energy sources advance economic within a reasonable time frame, with a flexible transition meet 20 percent of the global energy demand, while and commitment from global leaders to actively and opportunities in both urban and rural areas and create plan to avoid undue economic hardships. other renewables and clean energy technologies hold aggressively pursue clean, efficient, and renewable new industries across the globe. 3) Facilitate “Leapfrog” Energy Advances similar potential. energy resources and the policies necessary to spur Work with developing countries with burgeoning their advancement. Specific steps to move towards this Overall, energy efficiency and renewable energy energy markets to facilitate “leapfrog” technological Pursuit of clean and renewable energy resources spurs objective and reap the benefits of this unique global resources create a cleaner, more stable, secure, advances that spur the jump to energy efficient new economic opportunities, increases technological opportunity are discussed below. profitable and sustainable global energy system while technologies, distributed renewable energy, and innovation, and provides a feasible means to reduce addressing the pressing issues of climate change and clean energy technologies. greenhouse gases and environmental pollutants without DIVERSIFICATION OF ENERGY SUPPLY energy poverty. 4) Advance and Utilize Smart Grid Technologies undo constraints on energy security or the global Just as a diverse investment portfolio is a sound policy Emerging “smart grid” technologies can maximize the economy. By the middle of the twenty-first century, to mitigate economic risks, a diverse energy portfolio is STEPS TO ACHIEVE CLEAN AND potential for distributed and efficient energy resources. SECURE GLOBAL ENERGY SYSTEM renewable energy could account for three-fifths of the essential to mitigate the risks associated with volatile and Local production of energy provides energy security, Achieving a clean and secure global energy system is world’s electricity market and two-fifths of the market unstable fuel markets, interrupted energy supply, and the protection of essential life line services, and a reliable for fuels used directly. Moreover, making a transition to environmental and public health costs. a challenge that will require global perspectives, local source of energy. action, and commitment from leaders around the world a renewables-intensive energy economy would provide 5) Incorporate Risks and Externalities to effectively implement sound policies and programs. environmental and other benefits not measured in Diversification will be achieved through two critical steps. a. Establish clear guidelines and internationally Efforts to advance renewable energy, energy efficiency, standard economic accounts. For example, by 2050 First we must use our energy resources more productively standardised evaluation methods for determining the and clean energy technologies should aim to address global CO2 emissions would be reduced to 75 percent through the deployment of more efficient supply side external effects and risks of all energy systems. the diverse needs of the various socioeconomic levels of their 1985 levels provided that energy efficiency and resources, energy efficient technologies, efficient building b. Support rules to internalize all social and around the globe, and a comprehensive energy strategy renewables are both pursued aggressively. And because practices, and thoughtful transportation planning. Each environmental costs in every energy project. must include plans for all pertinent energy sectors. The renewable energy is expected to be competitive with unit of energy saved through more efficient technologies c. Conduct environmental impact assessments prior following represent some steps to achieve a cleaner and conventional energy, such benefits could be achieved at reduces the pressure on our strained energy system. to new large scale energy projects and establish more secure global energy system. no additional cost. Energy saved though greater deployment of energy minimum standards of energy-efficiency and carbon efficient technologies and planning is the quickest, intensity for these projects. Developing renewable energy, energy efficiency, and cleanest, cheapest form of energy available today. 1) Set Clean and Diversified Energy Goals 6) Involve local stakeholders clean energy technologies introduces new choices, Furthermore, improvements to energy efficiency have Establish explicit targets for energy efficiency and Private sector interests and governments should competition in energy markets, and new opportunities economic and environmental benefits, such as reducing renewable energy at the global and national levels. work directly with local communities, NGOs, and for energy suppliers. All countries stand to benefit greenhouse gas emissions, preventing pollution, National governments can simultaneously demonstrate local governments to plan and implement new energy from the associated economic benefits of distributed alleviating poverty, improving security of energy supply, leadership and foster emerging technologies by projects. Local involvement in the early stages will help and renewable energy resources, especially land-rich increasing competitiveness, improving public health, dramatically increasing energy efficiency and achieve long term project success, generate a sense of countries with growing populations and rising energy and creating new economic growth. renewable energy use. community empowerment, and ensure that the project demands. Renewable resources abound throughout 2) Develop Clean Tech Energy Financing Strategies is tailored to meet a community’s specific needs. the world, offering opportunities to developing and Secondly, we must accelerate the development of a. Establish clean tech energy funds to finance 7) Promote Global Cooperation developed nations alike. inexhaustible renewable energy technologies and other projects relating to energy efficiency, renewable Foster partnerships among diverse stakeholders to alternative resources, such as fuel cells and combined energy, low-carbon energy technologies, and other streamline the exchange of technologies, expertise, According to Johansson, “a renewables-intensive global heat and power facilities. Wind, solar, geothermal and clean energy resources. education, training programs, clean energy energy future is technically feasible, and the prospects biomass are inexhaustible energy resources distributed b. Ensure that International Financial Institutions (IFIs) technologies, energy efficiency, performance are excellent that a wide range of new renewable- through out the globe, offering energy opportunities give priority to renewable energy development and standards, safety codes, methods of energy costing energy technologies will become fully competitive for people worldwide. Development of renewable energy efficiency projects for lending and support in and means of internalizing external costs. with conventional sources of energy during the next resources decreases pressure on our energy supply the energy sector.

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8) Adopt and Enforce Stringent Efficiency Standards Global Village Energy Partnerships Adoption of efficiency standards for all new products, The GVEP is a voluntary Partnership that brings together buildings, and vehicles will ensure a more secure and developing and industrialized country governments, economical global energy system. Energy efficiency public and private organizations, multilateral institutions, standards should also be applied to energy extraction, consumers and others in an effort to ensure access to generation, and distribution to reduce energy losses in modern energy services by the poor. the production and distribution of energy. http://gvep.org 9) Develop Sound Energy Policy Developing and developed nations should work collaboratively to develop policies and market-based strategies that spur investment in clean energy projects and remove institutional and regulatory barriers to clean and diversified energy. 10) Partner with industry to reduce greenhouse gases International partnerships with industry will serve to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of the major industrial sectors of our economies, disseminate information on available technologies, and cooperate further on sharing information on best practices and national policies to encourage the deployment of efficient and clean energy technologies.

Sarah Wright is the Executive Director and founder of ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Utah Clean Energy, a non-profit organization advancing Intermediate Technology Development Group clean energy solutions. Ms. Wright serves on Utah’s Energy Sustainable Energy for Poverty Reduction Advisory Council and she is the recipient of the Center for An Action Plan. 2002 Resource Solutions and U.S. Environmental Protection www.itdg.org/docs/advocacy/itdg-greenpeace-study.pdf Agency’s Green Power Pilot Award. www.utahcleanenergy.org 2005 G8 Summit Gleneagles Plan of Action Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development. 2005 www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/PostG8_Gleneagles_ CCChangePlanofAction.pdf

“Global and renewable energy: Potential and policy approaches” Thomas B. Johansson Environment, energy, and economy: Strategies for sustainability. Eds. Yoichi Kaya and Keiichi Yokobori. United Nations University Press, 1997

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Classroom By John Schaefer

“It is important for me to learn other languages and how to use a computer so that I can help my family survive.” 17 year-old Aymaran Indian, Huacuyo, Bolivia

“ I don’t need to know where Canada and Mexico are on this stupid map. I’m going to be a model.” 16 year-old high school student Miami, Florida

Designing a strategy for Global Education that The G8 has defined some of the most important principles underlying a strategy for international works and is sustainable is not just a challenge cooperation on education: but an opportunity to improve education 1) education should be adequate to the global innovation globally. This means making it relevant to process underlying modern economic trends. the student on the Altiplano as well as the 2) the quality of education should be relevant to the development of global labor markets and knowledge- seemingly entitled child in Miami, Florida. The based economies. situations may be very different but the ultimate 3) national efforts should be streamlined to provide access to quality primary education in the least goal is the same: providing an opportunity developed countries. for each human being to maximize her or his 4) education should play a role in cultural and professional integration of migrants into potential. The developed world is clearly in the receiving communities. position of exerting the most influence because I’LL SEE IT WHEN I BELIEVE IT of its resources, technology, and relatively These principles provide an excellent starting point as an high literacy rate; however, this leadership educational bill of rights. What is generally overlooked, role should not be used to blindly export the however, is that these rights must certainly apply to students in the developed world as well. It is of paramount developing counterparts. This is only natural since much want, such as the other hand discarding the disappearing established system. Rather, the principles of importance that the developed nations do not export of the needed assistance can accurately be characterized coin or rabbit. as “emergency education.” This in turn creates a open inquiry which form the basis of any good a system of education that is not meeting the needs of many of its own children. Intriguingly, the answers hierarchical construct of “giver and taker.” Unfortunately SUSTAINABLE CHANGE learning/teaching model should be applied to to better education may very well lie in the connection this situation is not the best learning environment. When If the establishment of sustainable systems of learning the process itself. This will guarantee that a between the developed and developing worlds. Both one part of a scene receives the focused attention, the incorporating best practices is the goal, then flexibility can benefit greatly as long as the exchange is open and rest of the scene becomes a blur. As any good magician will be the key in our hyper-changing and increasingly good time will be had by all. characterized by mutual respect. The developed world is knows, get their attention and then you can have them connected world. The emergency treatment mode must in danger of not respecting the contributing potential of its look where you want, or really, don’t look where you don’t not become the paradigm because it implies triage, »

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deciding whom to save and whom, and in this what On average, young people spend 3:51 a day watching Hopeful signs do exist, but they tend to be outside the that any book is better than no book in acquiring literacy possibilities, to ignore. TV and videos, 1:44 listening to music, 1:02 using normal system. Organizations like the Teachers Network, skills, reading is not done in a vacuum. The power of computers, 0:49 playing video games, 0:43 reading, an international resource is unique in its focus on the literacy lies in the interchange of ideas and advancement “What everyone cares about of course, is sustainable and 0:25 watching movies. teacher as key to improving student achievement in public of human thought. Preconceived notions of power and development—not just building schools or water projects, - Viewing habits of US teenagers. Kaiser Foundation 2005 schools. Their innovation approach uses technology to place in the world are often formed by what a child but making sure those projects will still be working 5 connect teachers with peers to affect real classroom experiences, and the context of learning is a large part years later, and that the village is actually moving out of This proliferation of technology into the lives of children change. Director Ellen Dempsey noted that its web site of that experience. If a child learns traditional forms of extreme poverty under its own steam. We have found that in the developed world has had virtually no substantive has seen geometrically explosive growth in just the past farming or sharing from a village elder, these may be this only happens if you can catalyze effective community educational response. Most school districts have no 3 months, though it has been receiving numerous wards in direct conflict with a reading program that belittles leadership. This happens best in the process of building Media Literacy training for teachers and no Media Literacy and recognition over the past five years. By meeting real traditional culture. Conversely, imagine the empowering tangible projects. You don’t preach democracy, or talk curriculum. None. This while their students are using needs a tipping point becomes technologically feasible. possibilities of a literacy program designed by and about sustainability; you focus on getting clean water. Day media 7 hours and 51 minutes a day while only reading attuned to local culture. to day you are working together building water systems, a total of 43 minutes. The reality is a huge disconnect in EDUCATION IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD but basically the process is fundamentally educational, relevancy between what and how things are taught and – JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE THE PROVING GROUND – people acquiring new organizational skills. This gives what is learned. Every child deserves an education, but school is about THE DEVELOPED WORLD–DEVELOPING voice and power to the entire community and keeps the more than just learning. It saves and transforms lives, WORLD CONNECTION change going.” “It is not important what is being taught, what matters is and yields spectacular benefits in social and In the late 19th century western medicine’s best - Mitchell Wade, CEO Choice Humanitarian what is being learned.” economic development. humanitarian efforts would be to export leeches and - Tim Gangwer, Visual Teaching Alliance - United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) blood-letting to the rest of the world. This metaphor, cited In the majority of cases, and hopefully over time in all by organizational expert Stephen Covey, describes the cases, the goal must be sustainable educational systems Only 1 in 7 (13 percent) American high school students The developing world needs access to resources as situation in global education today. Both the developed that are characterized by best practices. This approach can locate Iran OR Iraq on a map, despite the almost basic as buildings, books, and teachers. In some cases and developing world are in need of educational systems shifts the emphasis from a giver-receiver model to a daily presence of these countries in the news. More than the valuing of formal education is a needed concept. that are relevant, efficient, and humanizing. partnership. Any good partnership must be mutually half—56 percent—of high school students are unable to Some of these appear to be simply resource issues, beneficial, meeting the needs of each party as well as locate India, home to 17 percent of the people on Earth. almost none are. Bringing innovations in health and learning to the global creating new relationships within the connective tissue of National Geographic—Roper 2002 Geographic community…We must be humble and mindful in our the partnership. Literacy Survey “When I worked briefly selling textbooks to Ghana in the actions and words. We seek and heed the counsel of early 1990s I was astonished to discover that many of outside voices. EDUCATION IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD And things are getting worse. Every aspect of the the titles for grades 7 thru 10 were very biased towards - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - I WANT MY MTV American K-12 educational scene is under siege as a Eurocentric/colonialist perspective with no sensitivity Innovation, both technological and organizational, resources are stretched and the role of the underpaid to the daily experience of these pupils. The books It is extremely heartening to see these key principles characterize the major need to be addressed by global professional teacher becomes increasingly redefined as teaching English language were the worst offenders with espoused by such a powerful player in the Developed education in the 21st Century. However, most of the that of a daycare provider. Even more disturbing, parents stereotypical 1950s post-empire examples of sentences and Developing conversation. Innovation should be students in the developed world, though highly wired, can no longer seem to find the time to attend twice-a- and situations never to be encountered by kids in Ghana, sought across all disciplines, not simply restricted to have become increasing distracted by a barrage of media year parent-teacher conferences. In many school districts Nigeria and Gambia.” technology. This innovation should also be informed with very little substance, the result being a disconnect attendance is down over 70%, and when parents do - Brian Parkin, UK Educator by the two-way flow of ideas. The developed world will with the global community. attend they often have to be reminded to turn off their derive great benefit from wrestling with problems of cell phones. Relevancy is the key to effective learning. No one knows educational efficiency as it deals with driving a world-wide better than a committed teacher that you can lead a educational revolution. This can be a major leapfrogging horse to water but you can’t make him drink rules the opportunity for both the developed and developing educational landscape. While an argument can be made worlds. Take the Media Literacy problem as an example.

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New media technology, the internet and in many societies the television itself, is not nearly as important as the content it will proliferate. Children in the developed world are generally clueless when it comes to interpreting the messages. Imagine how a traditional society is going to deal with this importation of mass media popular culture. Media Literacy becomes a critical aspect of being an educated world citizen.

Although it is estimated that over 10 million children die each year from preventable causes saving even one John Schaefer is an educator, artist, and community life counts. In fact, the world’s attention is often riveted builder. He designs educational projects from the micro by dramas like “the girl in the well” or “the boy in the (classroom) to the macro (The Visual Learning Workshops earthquake rubble.” Connections with individuals, usually – 600,000 educators have participated worldwide). He is the delivered in narrative form, resonate across time and director and founder of the Children’s Media Workshop, an space. It is much easier to come to terms with individuals international leader in the field of Media Literacy. than millions. Efforts at advancing global education in the www.mediadivide.org developing world are constantly plagued by micro and macro problems vying for attention. It is critical that short- term fixes are not confused with long-term sustainable educational change. While the “emergency” by its very nature deserves priority, the educational landscape has the advantage that “educational emergencies” are in the eye of the beholder. Keeping a starving child alive for a day at a time may save her life. Learning to read overnight will not. Advocating for sustainable educational change has the added benefit of impacting all aspects of globalization, from economic development to the environment. This long-term approach can be a support system for issues that are constantly in emergency mode.

Maintaining trust through integrity is a basic tenet of effective leadership and the title of a chapter in the book Learning To Lead by Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith. The solution to the Global Education problem may take many forms, but mutual respect must be maintained in a world with increased opportunities for contact. The world can be a Global Classroom where the lessons learned are the lessons of life.

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A Perfect Storm By Joseph Schappert, M.D. and Dylan Ford

Clinical medicine, as it has been taught and practiced in ancient and modern societies worldwide, has a similar premise - ‘Treat the patient, not the disease’. Yet the agenda for this meeting and for many other initiatives on this subject are disease-centered. Since, as Socrates has taught us, the answer to a question is contained within the question itself, reframing the problem with a patient- centered perspective may lead to completely different answers. As such, it may make sense to ask ‘What do current and future peoples require to successfully prevent the spread of known infectious diseases and/or the emergence of new diseases?’

There is much concern regarding mutations within While this may be a polemical question, it is important to microorganisms that would allow them to ‘jump species’ also note that 400 million people are currently infected and infect humans, or would enhance the virulence with hepatitis B virus, for which an inexpensive and safe of existing pathogens. This fear is justified since vaccine has been available for more than 15 years. Yet microorganisms continue to elude our control. Our this vaccine has not been effectively distributed in a experience with antibiotics has shown that resistance timely manner to populations most in need. In specific occurs within 3-5 years of their widespread utilization. situations where our peoples might best be served by Our more recent experience with antiviral agents has disease control effectuated through the utilization of been similar. Without diminishing the important role that vaccines (current and future), it would be important to antimicrobials have played in our recent history, it has understand and address the impediments to their rapid also underscored their limitations. and effective distribution. A clear understanding of these impediments may also be useful in the implementation of While modern technology has not demonstrated the the recommendations below. potential for controlling or dominating the mutational capabilities and ecological shifts of microorganisms, It is estimated that there are forty million people infected effective safeguards do exist. To minimize the ability with AIDS, many in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Though of microorganisms to overwhelm human immune HIV-testing in these regions is limited, it should be responses, making food and potable water available noted that AIDS is potentially a convenient presumptive through low-technology solutions to the populations in diagnosis for a myriad of endemic diseases that partner need would be more responsible and responsive than with poverty. This is for two reasons. First, it attracts we should acknowledge that the physical vulnerability of malnutrition, provide a setting where microbes can pass the provision of high-technology solutions to people after needed health care funding not readily available for other impoverished peoples leaves them defenseless to the rapidly and effectively through large populations, whose they have been infected. For example, while a measles conditions. Secondly, it is a sexually transmitted disease, current instability of our microbial ecologies. members’ immune systems are already compromised vaccine is available, this is a disease which only ravishes which allows us to implicate the presumable moral and unable to mount adequate resistance. Healthy, the malnourished. Is the appropriate patient-centered failings of the victims, and justify our possibly race-based The body of a starving human being is the training camp well-nourished people living in stable civil societies solution for this disease a vaccine or a commitment indifference to their actual plights. for microbes developing and refining strategies that will with acceptable quality drinking water, with reliable and to provide people in the world access to the land and enable them to eventually infect other populations. The reasonable, albeit modest, support systems, and with agricultural support systems that would allow families and Though our fears regarding the potential for epidemics crowded, unsanitary living conditions, with which these intact immune systems are far less likely to be victims or communities to feed themselves? and the emergence of new diseases are well founded, peoples must contend, combined with their chronic vectors of an epidemic. To minimize the risk of epidemics, »

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it will be important to evaluate the impediments to and This is in contrast to corporate monoculture farm these areas will continue to harbor endemic infectious to exploit new circumstances in unprecedented ways, the opportunities for strengthening these people’s practices, where mechanization forces the now diseases and the disruptions to the microbial ecology will potentially affecting our ability to provide a sustainable physiologic defenses. To minimize the risk for emerging ‘redundant’ laboring families off the land and sets promote the rapid evolution of new pathogenic microbes. food supply and/or through human epidemics infectious diseases, it will be important to understand and them adrift without options, where the focus shifts from In addition, “because the treatment of virtually every and pandemics. to address conditions that foster sudden and dangerous growing food to profitable commodities, where the soil illness, disease or injury requires rehydration as vital to shifts in microbial ecology. is treated as a static medium to hold the plants upright the course of treatment, access to safe potable water is A PERFECT STORM while they are fertilized with water-soluble nutrients and imperative. Rehydration with questionable water often While these stark facts are disturbing, the synergies that FOOD, POTABLE WATER AND preemptively sprayed with pesticides, herbicides and serves to compound the malady by exposing a vulnerable they represent are alarming. First, we have created the A STABLE MICROBIAL ECOLOGY fungicides that destroy the soil’s natural processes and populace to water borne disease,” asserts Laura Libman, perfect media for microbial growth: slaughterhouse slush, There is currently enough food to go around. Since disrupt the stability of the microbial ecology. The local CEO of The Tia Foundation – www.tiafoundation.org filthy feedlots, sewers and manure ponds, battery-cage total food available per person has been increasing, the populations do not get fed or housed in the process, their poultry operations, and massive nutritionally weakened, increasing hunger in our populations is not attributable soils are destroyed and left subject to erosion, the water Ongoing small scale and industrial deforestation results immune-compromised populations. Second, we have to the lack of available food, but to the unequal access to is polluted, the local wildlife is devastated (along with in a net loss of water through non-absorption and created remarkably efficient modes of transmission for the food and to food-producing resources. There is much pollinating and soil-aerating insects and invertebrates), evaporation. To address this, programs for reforestation pathogenic microorganisms: overcrowded urban centers for us to learn in this sector. For example, from 1970- and the profits go entirely to distant entities. are required. Also to reduce reliance on the groundwater that facilitate transmission of respiratory organisms; 1990 China reduced the number of hungry people from supply in areas of low or seasonal rainfall, systems for the unsanitary water that facilitates transmission of enteric 406 million to 189 million, through use of the traditional Imposition of these “scientific breakthroughs” in some catchment and storage of rainwater would be prudent. microorganisms; rapid international travel and shipping agricultural model and changes in land access, without countries where traditional farming practices had The drive by private corporations to acquire national or that facilitates world wide dispersion; and, disruption utilizing expensive “Green Revolution” solutions. consistently fed large populations for more than forty regional water rights places access by these communities of traditional social structures with movement of men centuries, successfully utilizing the same land without to their water in jeopardy, and the international community seeking work to urban centers, and the creation of The cooperative strategy that, for most of history has a loss of fertility and without devastating the local should condemn this. Finally, it should be recognized that hordes of impoverished sex-workers that facilitates sexual sustained peasant agriculture, was based on low-tech, wildlife, has resulted in small farm bankruptcies, social the preferential access to water that is granted to industry transmission. Finally, shifts in the microbial ecology due to obsessively frugal, and labor-intensive cultivation of upheaval, and environmental meltdown. It should also and bottling companies as an inducement, as well as the changes in climate, deforestation, pollution, irresponsible small diverse farms, where every participating laborer be noted that while chemical-based farming requires a utilization of water to support recreational activities (e.g., genetic engineering, and the replacement of strict and family member lived on-site, was consistently fed, significant amount of water to deliver the soluble nutrients golf courses, swimming pools) for Westerners visiting, livestock sanitation standards with the use of prophylactic and at harvest times shared in the benefits of excess to the rootzone, traditional agricultures depend on the working or living in dry, developing areas of the world antimicrobials will selectively allow resistant and/or new production and trade. The enduring success of this interacting bacteria, fungi, and algae in the soil to make represents a loss of potable water to the native people. organisms to occupy roles never before encountered in strategy has been supported by research done by the available mineral nutrients, and too much water can be the evolution of our planet. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations detrimental to these communities. The impact of environmental changes (e.g., deforestation, (FAO), which has shown that ‘small, biodiverse farms industrial pollution, global warming, spent uranium Perfect media, efficient modes of transmission, resistant can produce thousands of times more food than large, With the industrial colonization of many developing ordinance) and agricultural practices (monoculture, and/or new pathogenic organisms: this is the formula industrial monocultures.’ These small traditional farms countries, corporations moving their operations abroad pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and genetically for ‘a perfect storm’. Surveillance mechanisms will be grow environmentally appropriate crops, which provide to take advantage of cheap and desperate labor-pools; reengineered plants, etc.) on the microbial ecology after the fact. Antimicrobials, even if they are effective, food, fiber (wool, cotton, linen, etc.), fodder (livestock to free themselves from union protections, labor laws, represents a serious threat. These environmental changes will quickly select out resistant organisms. Vaccines feed) and fertilizer (manure, compost). They also sustain and restrictive standards of occupational safety, and and agricultural practices present potential risks as they will require years to develop and, based on our current the wild birds and other small fauna including predatory to avoid regulation and oversight from agencies of generate unnatural conditions of disturbance that will experience, decades to effectively deploy. » insects, which reduce grazing insect populations without environmental protection, the potential for toxic insults invite opportunistic microbes to fill the ecological spaces poisons. The naturally replenished and conserved soils to the people, the microbial ecology and water quality previously occupied by balanced populations of neutral of these farms host and maintain a stable and balanced in these regions rises geometrically. Without protection or commensal species. Due to their adaptive and rapid microbial ecology. of the water supply from sewage and industrial effluent, mutational capabilities, emerging pathogens will ‘learn’

20 2006 G8 Summit Focus – Fighting Infectious Diseases 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 21 2006 G8 SUMMIT FOCUS FIGHTING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

The synergies created by this triad threaten our lives and those of our descendants. If we continue to impose our economic model of greed, domination, and perpetual growth upon a planet with ecological systems that can only survive through climax equilibrium, we are doomed. It is the microbes that will restore a new balance.

As we seek better ways to respond to the tragedies created by starvation, international contagion, elective wars, and natural calamities, we must have the courage to assure that the directions, which we collectively choose, Dr. Schappert is a graduate of the Facolta’ di Medicina are not profit driven. A case in point is our focus on Asia’s in Bologna, Italy. He currently resides and practices home poultry flocks with the Avian flu, which to date has medicine in New York. He has published on a wide killed fewer than 100 people. Solutions to this predicted variety of topics and makes presentations internationally pandemic, which distance the poor from the means to on subjects, such as advanced laboratory technologies feed themselves, but pay scant attention to the 50,000 and infectious diseases. -100,000 bird battery-cage operations (which are proven theatres of avian contagion) should arouse our suspicion.

If we are unable or unwilling to challenge the political Dylan Ford is an artist, writer, and an organic/biodynamic and economic structures that propagate and benefit gardener. He is the author of the proposal at from perpetual crisis, no solutions are possible. This www.ideaforpresident.com, a website devoted to an idea that will be to our individual and collective detriment. We will could address polution issues, food safety, social justice, share in the consequences - and these are predictable. prison reform and healthcare. What we see governments, corporations, and microbes doing to the weakest among us today is an indication of what awaits the rest of us tomorrow. As we grope into this precarious future, we must have the humility and the wisdom to understand that we are not immune for long.

2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 23 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 2006 G8 Leaders and Nations Vladimir Putin President of The Russian Federation The G8 Group is an unoffi cial forum of the heads of the leading industrialized PERSONAL democracies (Russia, the U.S., Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Canada PROFILE and Italy), where the European Commission is also represented and fully participates. This forum was designed to harmonize attitudes to acute Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is the current President of the Russian international problems. The member states account for 49% of global Assumption of offi ce: Federation. Putin graduated from the International Department of the Law exports, 51% of industrial output, and 49% of assets in the International March 26, 2000 Faculty of the Leningrad State University in 1975 and was recruited into Monetary Fund. the KGB. Putin was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Date of birth: Federation by President Boris Yeltsin in August 1999, making him Russia’s The history of the Group, which initially had consisted of seven members, October 7, 1952 fi fth prime minister in less than eighteen months. On his appointment, few began in November 1975, when the fi rst meeting of the leaders of six expected Putin, a virtual unknown, to last any longer than his predecessors. countries met in Rambouillet at the initiative of President of France Giscard Place of birth: Putin’s law-and-order image and his unrelenting approach to the renewed d’Estaing. Canada joined the Group a year later. EU representatives Leningrad crisis in Chechnya soon combined to raise his popularity and allowed him have attended G7 meetings since 1977 (the European Union is always to overtake all rivals. represented at G8 Summits by the President of the European Commission Family status: and the President of the European Council). Russia was admitted to the He graduated from the law faculty of Leningrad State University in 1975. Married / two daughters Group at the Denver summit in 1997. Upon graduation he was assigned a job in state security bodies. He worked in the German Democratic Republic from 1985 to 1990. In 1990, he was G8 is not an international organization. It does not rest on an international Assistant Director of Leningrad State University on International Affairs, and agreement and does not have formal admission criteria, a charter or later on worked as Advisor to the Chairman of the Leningrad City Council. a permanent secretariat. Its decisions are formulated as the political commitments of the member states. But G8 has developed a stable In June 1991, he became Chairman of Saint. Petersburg City Hall Foreign procedure, with summits held regularly by rote in the partner states and the Relations Committee. From 1994, he combined this job with the position of host country acting as the chairman of G8 for a calendar year. It organizes First Deputy Chairman of St. Petersburg City Government. the summit and ministerial, expert and working meetings, elaborates the schedule and coordinates the routine work of the Group. Discussions of In March 1997, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Russian Federation the heads of state and government are held behind closed doors, with G8 President Administration, and Director of the Main Control Department of Sherpas (personal representatives of leaders) being the only outsiders. the President of the Russian Federation. In May 1998, he occupied the Decisions are adopted on the principle of consensus. Regular meetings position of the First Deputy Head of the Russian Federation President of foreign and fi nance ministers play a major part in the preparation of Administration. summits, which entail also (by agreement) the meetings of environment, energy, labor and social development, healthcare, science and education, In July 1998, he was appointed Director of the Federal Security Service of interior and justice ministers (prosecutors general). the Russian Federation, and combined this job since March 1999 with the position of the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. G8 also has working and expert groups and task forces. As of now, there are the High Level Group on Nonproliferation, the Rome/Lyons Group (on In August 1999, he became Chairman of the Government of the Russian terrorism and organized crime), the Counter-Terrorism Expert Group, the G8 Federation and on December 31 of that year was appointed Acting Personal Representatives for Africa, the Global Partnership Senior Offi cials President of the Russian Federation. Group, the G8 Nonproliferation Experts Group (with a plutonium subgroup), the Nuclear Safety and Security Group, and several others. G8 holds an On March 26, 2000, he was elected President of the Russian Federation average of 60 to 80 functions annually. and assumed offi ce on May 7, 2000. He was re-elected President of the Russian Federation for a second term on March 14, 2004. President In accordance with the decision of the G8 summit in Kananaskis in 2002, Vladimir Putin is also the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Russia will take the rotating chair of the group on January 1, 2006. Forces and Chairman of the State Council.

24 2006 G8 Summit – Leaders and Nations 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 25 Jacques Chirac George W. Bush Jr. President of the French Republic President of the United States of America PERSONAL PERSONAL PROFILE PROFILE

Jacques René Chirac is the current President of the French Republic. He George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American businessman and Assumption of offi ce: was elected to this offi ce in 1995 and re-elected in 2002. His current term Assumption of offi ce: politician, who was elected in 2000 as the 43rd and current President of the 1995 expires in 2007. As President, he is an ex offi cio Co-Prince of Andorra and November 2000 United States of America and re-elected in 2004, and is currently serving Grand Master of the Légion d’honneur. his second term in offi ce. Bush formerly served as the 46th Governor of Date of birth: Date of birth: Texas from 1994 to 2001. November 29, 1932 Chirac was born in Paris. In 1959, after completing studies at the Institut July 6, 1946 d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and the École Nationale d’Administration, A Republican, he belongs to one of the most politically infl uential American Place of birth: Jacques Chirac began his career as a high-level civil servant, and soon Place of birth: families, being the son of former president George H. W. Bush and elder Paris entered politics. He has since occupied various senior positions, such as New Haven, Connecticut brother of Jeb Bush, the present Governor of Florida. Minister of Agriculture, Prime Minister, Mayor of Paris, and fi nally President Family status: of France. Family status: George W. Bush Jr. received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University in 1968, and in 1975 he graduated from Harvard Business School Married / two daughters Married / two daughters He graduated from the Paris Institute for Political Studies (Institut d’Etudes as a Master of Business Administration. de Paris), the French National School of Public Administration (Ecole Nationale d’Administration), and Harvard Summer School in the US. An entrepreneur in the oil industry in Texas, Bush was an unsuccessful In 1962, he went to work in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. After working on his father’s 1988 presidential campaign, he purchased and managed the From 1967 to 1968, he worked as State Secretary for Social Affairs, and Texas Rangers baseball team, and in 1994 he was elected Governor of in 1969 he was State Secretary for Budgetary Affairs to the Minister of Texas. As Governor, Bush worked on education reform, school fi nance, tort Finance, and from 1971 to 1972, he served as Minister-Delegate to the reform and sponsored the largest tax cut program in Texas history. Prime Minister. Re-elected in 1998, he was one of the most popular governors in the nation. As the candidate nominated by the Republican Party, Bush won From 1972 to 1973, he headed the Ministry of Agriculture. and then in 1974, the 2000 presidential election in a close and controversial contest, despite he was the Interior Minister. From 1974 to 1976, and from 1986 to 1989, he losing the popular vote. held the position of the Prime Minister. Since re-election for a second presidential term in 2004, Bush has Having left the position of Prime Minister in 1976, he was elected Chairman received increasingly heated criticism for his management of the war and of the Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la Republic - RPR) domestic issues, and his popularity has declined over the continuation of the war in Iraq. From 1977 to 1995, he was the Mayor of Paris. He is married to Laura Bush and has two daughters. In 1995, he was elected President of France and re-elected for another term in 2002.

Jacques Chirac is married and has two daughters.

26 2006 G8 Summit – Leaders and Nations 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 27 Tony Blair Junichiro Koizumi Prime Minister of Great Britain Prime Minister of Japan PERSONAL PERSONAL PROFILE PROFILE

Tony Blair is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Since winning leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Assumption of offi ce: Northern Ireland, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Assumption of offi ce: in 2001, Junichiro Koizumi has become known as an advocate of 1997 Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefi eld. 2003 reform, focusing on Japan’s government debt and the privatization of its postal service. In 2005, Koizumi led the LDP to win one of the largest Date of birth: He has been leader of the Labour Party since July 1994, following the Date of birth: parliamentary majorities in modern Japanese history. May 6, 1953 death of John Smith in May 1994. Blair led Labour to power with a landslide January 8, 1942 victory in the 1997 general election replacing John Major as Prime Minister He graduated from the economics faculty of the prestigious private Keio Place of birth: and ending 18 years of Conservative government. He is the Labour Party’s Place of birth: University in Tokyo. After graduation he took an economics course in Edinburgh, Scotland longest-serving Prime Minister, and the only person to have led the party Kanagawa Prefecture London. At the age of 30, in 1972, he was elected to the Diet’s House of to three consecutive general election victories. The youngest person to be Representatives (Shugi-in) and has been re-elected nine times since then. Family status: appointed Prime Minister since 1812, he has deployed British armed forces Family status: into four confl icts: Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq. He has occupied the following positions in the Government: Minister of Married / three sons and a daughter Divorced / three sons Posts and Telecommunications and Minister of Health and Welfare. In 1976, he graduated from St. John’s College of Oxford University where he studied law. He practiced law in the fi eld of trade union law He held a number of important positions in the Liberal-Democratic Party, and labour relations. being a member of its Leading Council, Deputy Chairman of its Policy Board, and its Deputy Secretary-General. In May 1982, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons in Beaconsfi eld county but receiving only 10 percent of all votes. In 1983, he In 2001, the Diet elected him as Prime Minister. was elected to the House of Commons from Sedgefi eld. In 2003, he gained a convincing victory at the elections of the Chairman In 1984-1994, he was a member of the Shadow Cabinet of the Labour Party. of the Liberal Democratic Party. At the early elections to the Diet’s House In succession he was in charge of fi nancial and economic issues, trade and of Representatives he was re-elected Prime Minister by a vast majority of industry, power engineering, employment and home affairs. votes.

In 1987-1988, he combined his political career with journalism, and worked Koizumi has announced that he will step down from offi ce sometime in as a columnist for The Times. After the sudden death of Labour leader John 2006, per LDP rules, and will not personally choose a successor as many Smith in 1994, Tony Blair headed the Labour Party and became the leader LDP prime ministers have in the past. This has led to widespread media of the parliamentary opposition at the same time. speculation about who will be his successor, an issue popularly referred to as “post-Koizumi.” In 1997, he led the Labour Party to a landslide victory in the General Election and became Prime Minister. The Labour Party gained another convincing victory at the General Election in 2001 and 2005.

Tony Blair has been married to Cherie Blair since 1980 and has three sons and a daughter.

28 2006 G8 Summit – Leaders and Nations 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 29 Angela Merkel Stephen Harper Federal Chancellor of Germany Prime Minister of Canada PERSONAL PERSONAL PROFILE PROFILE

Assumption of offi ce: Angela Dorothea Merkel, who was born in Hamburg on July 17, 1954, is the Assumption of offi ce: Stephen Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and November 22, 2005 current Chancellor of Germany. As chairwoman of the Christian Democratic January, 2006 leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. He became Prime Minister Union (CDU) she leads a coalition with its sister party, the Christian Social after leading the Conservatives to a minority government win in the January Date of birth: Union (CSU), and with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The Date of birth: 2006 federal election, which ended more than twelve years of Liberal July 17, 1954 coalition was formed after two months of negotiations following the 2005 April 30, 1959 government. federal election. Place of birth: Place of birth: Harper has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Calgary Hamburg Merkel, elected to the German Parliament from Mecklenburg-Western Toronto Southwest in Alberta since 2002, having previously served as the MP for Pomerania, has been the chairwoman of the CDU since 2000, and Calgary West from 1993 to 1997. According to Canadian protocol, as Prime Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary party group from 2002 to Minister, he is styled “The Right Honourable” for life. Family status: Family status: 2005. She is the fi rst female Chancellor of Germany, the fi rst former citizen Married Married / two children of the German Democratic Republic to lead the reunited Germany and the As one of the founding members of the Reform Party, he ended his fi rst stint fi rst woman to lead Germany since it became a modern nation-state in as an MP to head the National Citizens Coalition. After the ousting of leader 1871. She is also, as of 2006, the youngest person to be chancellor since Stockwell Day in 2002, Harper became leader of the Canadian Alliance the Second World War. and returned to Parliament. In 2003, he successfully reached an agreement with Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay to merge the Canadian She was educated at the University of Leipzig, where she studied physics Alliance with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the Conservative from 1973 to 1978. Merkel worked and studied at the Central Institute for Party of Canada. He was elected as the new party’s fi rst leader in Physical chemistry of the Academy of Sciences from 1978 to 1990. After March 2004. graduating with a doctorate in physics she worked in quantum chemistry. He received his BA from the University of Calgary in 1985. He then received In 1989, joined the Demokratische Aufbruch (Democratic Awakening) his MA in Economics from the University of Calgary in 1991 organization. In 1990 joined the Christian Democratic Union. In 1991, elected deputy Christian Democratic Union chairperson. Between the In 1985 he began his political career as Executive Assistant to Jim Hawkes, years of 1990-1991 she was also the deputy spokesperson in the last DDR Progressive Conservative MP and in 1987 was the Chief Policy Offi cer for government, a German Bundestag deputy and the Federal Minister for the Reform Party. Women and Youth. As the Legislative Assistant to Deborah Gray in 1988, he was the Reform From 1993 to 2000 she headed the CDU branch in Mecklenburg-Western Party’s fi rst MP, and in 1993 was fi rst elected to the House of Commons Pomerania and was also the Minister for the Environment and Nuclear as the Reform MP. Reactor Safety between the years of 1994 to 1998. In 1997 he did not seek re-election to take the post of President of the In 1998, she became Christian Democratic Union Secretary-General and National Citizens Coalition, a public organization working to protect on November 22, 2005 she was elected German Chancellor. Canadians’ fundamental political and economic freedoms. In 2002 he was Elected to the House of Commons and Leader of the Canadian Alliance Party. In this capacity, he led the offi cial opposition till the end of 2003.

On March 20, 2004 he was elected Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and opposition leader in the House of Commons. In January of 2006 he led the Conservative Party to victory with a minority government.

30 2006 G8 Summit – Leaders and Nations 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 31 Romano Prodi José Manuel Barroso Prime Minister of Italy Chairman of the European Commission PERSONAL PERSONAL PROFILE PROFILE

Assumption of offi ce: Since 17 May 2006, Romano Prodi has served as Prime Minister of Italy, Assumption of offi ce: José Manuel Durão Barroso is a Portuguese politician and the 12th May 17, 2006 following the narrow victory of his l’Unione coalition over the Casa delle 2004 President of the European Commission. He served as Prime Minister of Libertà led by Silvio Berlusconi in the April 2006 Italian elections. He was Portugal from April 2002 until June 2004, when he resigned to become Date of birth: previously Prime Minister from 1996 to 1998 and President of the European Date of birth: President-designate of the European Commission. August 9, 1939 Commission from 1999 to 2004. March 23, 1956 He graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon and has an MSc Place of birth: Romano Prodi is often nicknamed il Professore (the Professor) because Place of birth: in Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Geneva in Reggio Emilia, Italy of his academic background. Romano Prodi was born in Scandiano, in Lisbon, Portugal Switzerland. His academic career continued as an Assistant Professor in the province of Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna). He is the eighth of nine the Law School of the University of Lisbon and at Georgetown University children of Mario Prodi, an engineer originally from a peasant family, and and Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in Family status: Family status: Enrica, elementary teacher. He has six brothers, fi ve of them university (Washington DC), where he did research for a Ph.D. He is a 1998 graduate Married / two sons Married / three children professors (including a Member of the European Parliament, Vittorio Prodi), of the Georgetown Leadership Seminar. Back in Lisbon, Durão Barroso and two sisters. He married Flavia Franzoni in 1969. They have two sons, became Director of the Department for International Relations in the Giorgio and Antonio. He and his family still live in Bologna. He is fl uent in Lusíada University. English and French. Durão Barroso’s political activity began in his college days, before the In 1961, Romano Prodi graduated in law from the Catholic University Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974. He was one of the leaders of in Milan and then in 1963 he graduated from the London School of the Maoist PCTP-MRPP (Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers Economics.In 1963 through 1974 he served as an associate professor and - Revolutionary Movement of the Portuguese Proletariat). In December then later as a professor at Bologna University. 1980, however, Durão Barroso joined the right-of-centre Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD), where he remains to the present day. In 1974 he became Chairman of the Mulino publishing house in Bologna and editor in chief of the Industria magazine until 1978. Durão Barroso was elected in 1995 as a representative for Lisbon in the Assembly of the Republic where he became chairman of the Foreign Affairs From November 1978 until March 1979 he served as Italy’s Minister for Committee. In 1999 he was elected president of his own political party, the Industry. In 1981 he established Nomisma, an economic research center. PSD, and thus became Leader of the Opposition. Parliamentary elections in 2002 gave the PSD enough seats to form a coalition government with From 1982 to 1989 he was Chairman of the Institute for Industrial the right-wing Portuguese People’s Party, and Durão Barroso consequently Reconstruction (IRI), a state holding company. In 1995 he became head became Prime Minister of Portugal on April 6, 2002. of the center-left Ulivo (Olive Tree) coalition, which won the 1996 general elections, elected to the Chamber of Deputies from Bologna. In June 29, 2004, following his being proposed as a consensus candidate, the European Council appointed José Manuel Durão Barroso President- He served as Italian Prime Minister from 1996-1998. designate of the European Commission. The European Parliament endorsed him in the position by 413 votes to 251, with 44 blank ballots and In 1999 he was appointed as President of the European Commission, a three spoilt ones. position he held until 2004. José Manuel Durão Barroso is married to Margarida Sousa Uva, with whom In March of 2005 he became Chairman of the center-left Union coalition. he has three sons: Luís, Guilherme and Francisco.

On April 10, 2006, a Prodi-led coalition wins the parliamentary elections. Romano Prodi took the oath as Prime Minister of Italy on May 17, 2006.

32 2006 G8 Summit – Leaders and Nations 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 33 St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow

The Russian Federation RUSSIAN FEDERATION Russia (Russian:Россия), also known as the Russian Federation, is FAST FACTS a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,200 square kilometers, it is the largest country in the Capital: Moscow world by land mass, covering almost twice the territory of the next-largest country, Canada. It ranks as the world’s eighth largest population. Russia shares land borders with the countries Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Largest city: Moscow Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia and North Korea. It is also close to the United States, Offi cial language: Russian and many Canada, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Sweden, and Japan across stretches other dialects in constituent republics of water.

Government: Formerly the dominant republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Semi-Presidential Federation (USSR), Russia is now an independent country and an infl uential member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, since the Union’s dissolution President: Vladimir Putin in December 1991. During the Soviet era, Russia was offi cially called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Russia is Prime Minister: Mikhail Fradkov considered the Soviet Union’s successor state in diplomatic matters. Most of the area, population, and industrial production of the Soviet Union, Independence declared: then one of the world’s two superpowers, lay in Russia. After the breakup From the Soviet Union June 12, 1990 of the USSR, Russia’s global role was greatly diminished compared to that of the former Soviet Union. In October 2005, the federal statistics agency Total area: reported that Russia’s population has shrunk by more than half a million 17,075,400 km2 (1st) people dipping to 143 million, although Russia remains the second country 6,601,638 sq mi in the world by the number of immigrants from abroad.

Population: 2005 est. 143,202,000 (7th) GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS 2002 census 145,164,000 The politics of Russia (the Russian Federation) take place in a framework of a federal presidential republic, whereby the President of Russia is both Density: head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party 8.4/km2 (178th) system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power 21.7/sq mi is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Since gaining its independence GDP (PPP): with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Russia has 2006 estimate faced serious challenges in its efforts to forge a political system to follow $1.692 trillion (10th) nearly seventy-fi ve years of Soviet rule. For instance, leading fi gures in Per capita the legislative and executive branches have put forth opposing views of Russia’s political direction and the governmental instruments that $11,904 (62nd) should be used to follow it. That confl ict reached a climax in September and October 1993, when President Boris Yeltsin used military force to Currency: dissolve the parliament and called for new legislative elections. This event Ruble (RUB) marked the end of Russia’s fi rst constitutional period, which was defi ned by the much-amended constitution adopted by the Russian Republic in 1978. A new constitution, creating a strong presidency, was approved by referendum in December 1993.

34 G8 Nations at-a-glance The Russian Federation 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 35 Statue atop of the Moscow Trade Center in Manezhnaya Square, Moscow

The Russian Federation

The 1993 constitution declares Russia a democratic, federative, law-based But in 1998, the Asian financial crisis swept through the country, contributing state with a republican form of government. State power is divided among to a sharp decline in Russia’s earnings from oil exports and resulting in an the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Diversity of ideologies and exodus of foreign investors. Matters came to a head in August 1998 when the religions is sanctioned, and a state or compulsory ideology may not be government allowed the ruble to fall precipitously and stopped payment on adopted. The right to a multiparty political system is upheld. The content $40 billion in ruble bonds. of laws must be made public before they take effect, and they must be In 1999, output increased for only the second time since 1991, by an officially formulated in accordance with international law and principles. Russian is estimated 6.4%, regaining much of the 4.6% drop of 1998. This increase was proclaimed the state language, although the republics of the federation are achieved despite a year of potential turmoil that included the tenure of three allowed to establish their own state languages for use alongside Russian. premiers and culminated in the New Year’s Eve resignation of President Boris

Yeltsin. Of great help was the tripling of international oil prices in the second The Russian Federation consists of a great number of different federal half of 1999, raising the export surplus to $29 billion. subjects, making a total of 88 constituent components. There are 21

republics within the federation that enjoy a high degree of autonomy on most

issues and these correspond to some of Russia’s ethnic minorities. The FOREIGN RELATIONS AND MILITARY remaining territory consists of 48 oblasts (provinces) and 7 krais (territories), as well as 9 autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts), and 1 autonomous On December 27, 1991, the Russian Federation assumed the seat formerly oblast. Beyond these there are two federal cities (Moscow and St. held by the Soviet Union in the UN Security Council. Russia also is a member Petersburg). Recently, seven extensive federal districts (four in Europe, three of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Union of Russia and in Asia) have been added as a new layer between the above subdivisions Belarus, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the national level. and the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC). It signed the NATO Partnership for Peace initiative on June 22, 1994. On May 27, 1997, NATO and Russia signed the NATO-Russia Founding Act, which provides the basis ECONOMY for an enduring and robust partnership between the Alliance and Russia–one that can make an important contribution to European security architecture The economy of Russia experienced a dramatic transformation in the 1990s. in the 21st century. This agreement was superseded by the NATO-Russia First came the dismantling of the centrally planned economy that was a Council that was agreed at the Reykjavik Ministerial and unveiled at the Rome hallmark of the Soviet Union, and then its replacement by an economy NATO Summit in May 2002. On June 24, 1994, Russia and the European operating on the basis of market forces and private property. Some of the Union (EU) signed a partnership and cooperation agreement. former communist states of Central Europe began their process of economic CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: transition two years before Russia and have provided some insight into the Russia has played an important role in helping mediate international conflicts Bolshoi Ballet and Opera Theatre, Moscow; View effects of such transition. However, no two countries have had the exact from the Mockba river, Moscow; Russian military; and has been particularly actively engaged in trying to promote a peace same experience in this process. Russia posted gross domestic product Kazan Cathedral, Saint Petersburg following the Kosovo conflict. Russia is a cosponsor of the Middle East growth of 6.4% in 1999, 10% in 2000, 5.1% in 2001, 4.7% in 2002, 7.3% in peace process and supports UN and multilateral initiatives in the Persian 2003, 7.2% in 2004, 6.4% in 2005 with industrial sector posting high growth Gulf, Cambodia, Angola, the former Yugoslavia, and Haiti. Russia is a figures as well. Russia became the fastest growing economy in the G8. founding member of the Contact Group and (since the Denver Summit in It is expected to grow about 6.5% in 2006. The Russian GDP, however, June 1997) a member of the G8. In November 1998, Russia joined the Asia- contracted an estimated 40% between 1991 and 1998, despite the country’s Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC). Russia has contributed troops wealth of natural resources, its well-educated population, and its diverse to the NATO-led stabilization force in Bosnia and has affirmed its respect industrial base. for international law and OSCE principles. Russia has accepted UN and/or By the end of 1997, Russia had achieved some progress. Inflation had OSCE involvement in instances of regional conflict in neighboring countries, been brought under control, the ruble was stabilized, and an ambitious including the dispatch of observers to Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, and privatization program had transferred thousands of enterprises to private Nagorno-Karabakh. It has attempted to strengthen defense and security ties ownership. Some important market-oriented laws had also been passed, within the CIS and maintains military bases in Armenia, Tajikistan, Georgia, including a commercial code governing business relations and the Moldova and Kyrgyzstan. establishment of an arbitration court for resolving economic disputes.

36 G8 Nations at-a-glance The Russian Federation 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 37 Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile, Paris

France

FRANCE France, known offi cially as the French Republic (République Française), FAST FACTS is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises a collection of overseas islands and territories located Capital: Paris in other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and North Sea, and from the Rhine River to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to Metropolitan France as Largest city: Paris l’Hexagone (the “Hexagon”) because of the geometric shape of its territory. France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Offi cial language: French Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. In some of its overseas departments, France also shares land borders with Brazil, Suriname, and the Netherlands Government: Unitary republic Antilles. France is also linked to the United Kingdom via the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel. President: Jacques Chirac The French Republic is a democracy which is organized as a unitary semi- Prime Minister: Dominique de Villepin presidential republic. It is a highly developed country with the sixth-largest economy in the world. Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration Formation: of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France is one of the founding 843: Treaty of Verdun members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all 5th Republic: 1958 members. France is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of La Francophonie, the G8, and the Latin Union. It is one of the Accession to EU: fi ve permanent members of the United Nations Security Council wielding March 25, 1957 veto power, and it is also one of eight acknowledged nuclear powers. With almost 75 million foreign tourists each year, France is the most popular Total area: tourist destination in the world. 674,843 km2 (40th) 260,558 sq. mi. The name France originates from the Franks, a Germanic tribe that occupied the region after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. More Population: precisely, the region around Paris, called Île-de-France, was the original 63,587,700 (20th) French royal province.

Density: 112/km2 (68th) GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS The constitution of the Fifth Republic was approved by referendum on GDP (PPP): September 28, 1958. It greatly strengthened the authority of the executive in relation to Parliament. Under the constitution, the President of the 2005 estimate French Republic is elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year $1.816 Trillion (7th) (originally 7-year) term. Presidential arbitration assures regular functioning Per capita of the public powers and the continuity of the state. The president names $29,900 (20th) the prime minister, presides over the cabinet, commands the armed forces, and concludes treaties. Currency: Euro (€) (EUR), The French parliament is a bicameral legislature comprising a National CFP Franc (XPF) (French Polynesia, Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) and a Senate. The National Assembly New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna) deputies represent local constituencies and are directly elected for 5-year terms. The Assembly has the power to dismiss the cabinet, and thus the

38 G8 Nations at-a-glance France 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 39 Eiffel Tower, Paris

France

majority in the Assembly determines the choice of government. Senators are in 2004 France was the world’s fifth-largest exporter of manufactured goods, chosen by electoral college for 6-year terms (originally 9-year terms), and one behind the United States, Germany, Japan, and China, and ahead of the half of the seats are submitted to election every 3 years starting Sept. 2008. United Kingdom. It was also the fourth-largest importer of manufactured goods (behind the United States, Germany, and China, but ahead of the The Senate’s legislative powers are limited; in the event of disagreement United Kingdom and Japan). In 2003 France was the 2nd-largest recipient between the two chambers, the National Assembly has the final say, except of foreign direct investment among OECD countries at $47 billion, ranking for constitutional laws (amendments to the constitution & “lois organiques”). behind Luxembourg (where foreign direct investment was essentially The government has a strong influence in shaping the agenda of Parliament. monetary transfers to banks located in that country) but above the United States ($39.9 billion), the United Kingdom ($14.6 billion), Germany ($12.9 For the past thirty years, French politics has been characterized by the two billion), or Japan ($6.3 billion). In the same year, French companies invested politically opposed groupings: one left-wing, centred around the French $57.3 billion outside of France, ranking France as the second most important Socialist Party, and the other right-wing, centred around the Rassemblement outward direct investor in the OECD, behind the United States ($173.8 billion), pour la République (RPR) and its successor the Union pour un Mouvement and ahead of the United Kingdom ($55.3 billion), Japan ($28.8 billion) and Populaire (UMP). The right-wing Front National party made significant inroads Germany ($2.6 billion). in the early 1980’s, seized on voter concern about the perceived decline of France and ‘national dissolution’ as a result of immigration and globalization, In the 2005 edition of OECD in Figures, the OECD also noted that France by advocating tougher law-and-order and immigration policies. Lately its leads the G7 countries in terms of productivity (measured as GDP per hour share of the votes has remained stable at approximately 16%. French foreign worked). In 2004, the GDP per hour worked in France was $47.7, ranking policy has been largely shaped by membership of the European Union. France above the United States ($46.3), Germany ($42.1), the United Kingdom ($39.6), or Japan ($32.5). France is also a member of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the Indian Ocean Commission (COI), an associate member of the Association Despite figures showing a higher productivity per hour worked than in the of Caribbean States (ACS) and a leading member of the International US, France’s GDP per capita is significantly lower than the US GDP per Francophone Organization (OIF) of fifty-one fully or partly French-speaking capita, being in fact comparable to the GDP per capita of the other European countries. France hosts the headquarters of the OECD, UNESCO, Interpol, countries, which is on average 30% below US level. The reason for this is and the International Bureau for Weights and Measures in charge of the because a much smaller percentage of the French population is working international metric system. compared to the US, which sinks the GDP per capita of France, despite its higher productivity. In fact, France has one of the lowest percentages of its COUNTER-CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: View of Villefranche sur Mer in the Côte d’Azur region population aged 15-64 years at work among the OECD countries. In 2004, of France; Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; Vineyard ECONOMY 68.8% of the French population aged 15-64 years was in employment, near Bordeaux; Paris rooftops France’s economy combines extensive private enterprise (nearly 2.5 compared to 80.0% in Japan, 78.9% in the UK, 77.2% in the US, and 71.0% million companies registered) with substantial government intervention. in Germany. This phenomenon is the result of almost thirty years of massive The government retains considerable influence over key segments of unemployment in France, which has led to three consequences reducing the infrastructure sectors, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, size of the working population: about 9% of the active population is without and telecommunication firms. It has been gradually relaxing its control over a job; students delay as long as possible their entry into labour market; and these sectors since the early 1990s. The government is slowly selling off finally the French government gives various incentives to workers to retire in holdings in France Télécom, Air France, as well as the insurance, banking, their early 50s, though these are now receding. and defense industries.

A member of the G8 group of leading industrialized countries, it ranked as the sixth-largest economy in the world in 2005, behind the United States, Japan, Germany, The People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom. France joined 10 other EU members to launch the Euro on January 1, 1999, with Euro coins and banknotes completely replacing the French Franc in early 2002. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,

40 G8 Nations at-a-glance France 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 41 The Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

United States of America UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A federal republic, the United States shares land borders with Canada FAST FACTS and Mexico, and extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacifi c Ocean. Its capital is Washington, D.C. The present-day United States has been Capital: Washington, D.C. inhabited for at least 15,000 years by Native Americans. After 16th-century European exploration, the British established colonies in the eastern portion of the continent in the 17th century. On July 4, 1776, at war with Largest city: New York Britain over who would govern, thirteen of these colonies declared their independence; in 1783, the war ended in British acceptance of the new Offi cial language: English nation. Since then, the country has expanded greatly through territorial acquisitions: it now consists of 50 states, one federal district, and a Government: Federal Republic number of overseas territories.

President: George W. Bush At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.1 million km2), the U.S. is the third largest country by area. Home to nearly 300 million people, it is the world’s Vice President: Dick Cheney third most populous nation.

Independence declared: The United States has maintained a liberal democratic political system From Great Britain July 4, 1776 since it adopted its constitution on September 17, 1787. American military and economic stature increased throughout the 20th century; with Recognized: September 3, 1783 the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, the nation emerged as the world’s sole superpower. Total area: 9,631,418 km2 (3rd1) GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS 3,718,711 sq mi The United States is the longest-surviving constitutional republic with the oldest written constitution in the world. Its government operates as a Population: representative democracy through a congressional system under a set of 2006 est. 299,058,932 (3rd) powers specifi ed by its Constitution. There are three levels of government: 2000 census 281,421,936 federal, state, and local. Offi cials at all three levels are either elected by voters in a secret ballot or appointed by other elected offi cials. Executive Density: and legislative offi ces are decided by a plurality vote of citizens in their 30/km2 (143rd) respective districts, with judicial and cabinet-level offi ces nominated by the 83/sq mi Executive and approved by the Legislature. In some states, judicial posts are fi lled by popular election rather than executive appointment. GDP (PPP): The federal government comprises three branches, which are designed 2006 estimate to check and balance one another’s powers: The Legislative Branch, or $13.05 trillion (1st) Congress, is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Per capita The Executive Branch, or President, who appoints, with Senate approval, $43,555 (3rd) the Cabinet and other offi cers to help administer federal law. The Judiciary Branch, or the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are Currency: appointed by the President with Senate approval. Dollar ($) (USD)

42 G8 Nations at-a-glance United States of America 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 43 The Statue of Liberty, New York, NY

United States of America

While the per capita income of the United States is among the highest in the The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature. The House of world, the wealth is comparatively concentrated, with approximately 40% Representatives has 435 members, each representing a congressional of the population being worse off than most of western Europe and the top district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states 20% being substantially richer. The social mobility of the U.S. is relatively low according to population every tenth year. Each state has two Senators, and has been characterized since 1975 as a “two-tier labor market,” in which regardless of population, elected to six-year terms; one third of the 100 practically all the income gains have gone to the top 20% of households. Senators are elected every second year. The United States has large economic, political, and military influence on The Constitution contains a dedication to “preserve liberty” with a “Bill a global scale, which makes its foreign policy a subject of great interest of Rights” and other amendments, which guarantee freedom of speech, and discussion around the world. Almost all countries have embassies in religion, and the press; the right to a fair trial; the right to keep and bear Washington, D.C., and consulates around the country. However, Cuba, Iran, arms; universal suffrage; and property rights. However, although the United North Korea, and Sudan do not have formal diplomatic relations with the States is committed to the Western ideology to pursue human rights, the United States. The U.S. is a founding member of the United Nations (with a extent to which these rights are available in practice is debated: various permanent seat on the Security Council), among many other international forms of ethnic discrimination were not legally prohibited until the 1964 Civil organizations. Rights Act. However, discrimination is fading with a more tolerant culture and the passage of numerous anti-discrimination laws, embraced by the majority of Americans. FOREIGN RELATIONS AND MILITARY In 1949, in an effort to contain communism during the Cold War, the U.S., Canada, and ten Western European nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty ECONOMY Organization, a mutual-defense alliance in which they have since been joined The economic system of the United States can be described as a capitalist- by 14 other European states—including Turkey, which straddles the Eurasian mixed economy, in which corporations and other private firms make the border, and some former Soviet states. In an example of realpolitik, the U.S. majority of micro-economic decisions, and governments prefer to take a also established diplomatic relations with Communist countries that were smaller role in the domestic economy, although the combined role of all antagonistic to the Soviet Union, like the People’s Republic of China during levels of government is relatively large, at 36% of the GDP. Economic activity the Sino-Soviet split. Recently, the United States has fought against not only varies greatly across the country. For example, New York City is a center terrorism but the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Calls by an of financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries, while Los overwhelming majority of American citizens continue for increased border CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Angeles is the most important center for film and television production. The security against illegal immigration and the shipment of illegal narcotics, with Washington Monument, Washington D.C.; Wall San Francisco Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest are major centers for their primary goal the protection of American interests and the safety of U.S. Street, New York, NY; Southern Utah, Western United technology. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and citizens around the world, against such threats as terrorist infiltration at the States; Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA heavy industry, with Detroit serving as the center of the American automotive border with Mexico. industry, and Chicago serving as the business and financial capital of the region. The Southeast is a major area for medical research, tourism, and the The military of the United States comprises 1.4 million personnel on active lumber industry. duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Service in the military is voluntary, though conscription may The economy is fueled by an abundance in natural resources such as coal, occur in times of war. The U.S. is considered to have the most powerful petroleum, and precious metals. However, the country still depends for high-tech military in the world, because it spends a significant amount on much of its energy on foreign countries. In agriculture, the country is a top traditional-warfare power projection capabilities; for example, American producer of corn, soy beans, rice, and wheat, with the Great Plains labeled defense expenditures in 2005 were estimated to be greater than the next as the “breadbasket of the world” for their tremendous agricultural output. 14 largest national military budgets combined. However, the U.S. military The U.S. has a large tourist industry, ranking third in the world, and is also a budget is only about 4% of the country’s GDP and, after the military build-up major exporter in goods such as automobiles, airplanes, steel, weapons, and of World War II, has decreased after the winding down of the Cold War. electronics. Canada accounts for 19% (more than any other nation) of the The U.S. maintains over 700 military bases and facilities on every United States’ foreign trade, followed by China, Mexico, and Japan. continent except Antarctica.

44 G8 Nations at-a-glance United States of America 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 45 Tower Bridge, London

United Kingdom

UNITED KINGDOM The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country and FAST FACTS sovereign state occupying most of the British Isles off the northwest coast of mainland Europe. Its territory and population are primarily situated on the Capital: London island of Great Britain, but it also shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland on the island of Ireland. The United Kingdom is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and its ancillary bodies of water–the Largest city: London North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, and the Irish Sea. Offi cial language: English The United Kingdom is a political union made up of four constituent areas: the three countries of Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) Government: Constitutional monarchy and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom also has several overseas territories, including Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, while the Crown Queen: Queen Elizabeth II has a relationship with the dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. A constitutional monarchy, the United Kingdom has close Prime Minister: Tony Blair relationships with fi fteen other Commonwealth Realms that share the same monarch – Queen Elizabeth II – as head of state. Establishment: January 1, 1801 A member of the G8, the United Kingdom has a highly industrialized economy with the fi fth-largest gross domestic product in the world. It is Accession to EU: the third most populous state in the European Union and is a founding January 1, 1973 member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN) where it holds a permanent seat on the Security Council. Total area: The UK is also one of the world’s major nuclear powers. Having previously 244,820 km2 (78th) been the hub of the world’s most geographically extensive empire, it retains 94,526 sq mi an important and infl uential role in international politics, helped by the dominance of the English language in global affairs and its close ties with Population: the United States of America. 2004 est.: 59,834,3007 (21st) 2001 census: 58,789,194 GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS Density: The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power 243/km2 (33rd) exercised on behalf of the monarch by the prime minister and other cabinet 629/sq mi ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the prime minister, and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty’s Government. These ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the legislative GDP (PPP): body, which is traditionally considered to be “supreme” (that is, able to 2005 estimate legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors). $1.867 trillion (6th) The United Kingdom is one of the few countries in the world today that does Per capita not have a codifi ed constitution, relying instead on traditional customs and $30,900 (18th) separate pieces of constitutional law.

Currency: While the monarch is head of state and theoretically holds all executive Pound Sterling (£) (GBP) power, it is the prime minister who is the head of government. The government is answerable chiefl y to the House of Commons, from which constitutional convention requires that the prime minister be drawn. The

46 G8 Nations at-a-glance United Kingdom 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 47 Big Ben, London

United Kingdom

majority of cabinet members are from the House of Commons, the rest from The empire created an overseas market for British products, allowing the the House of Lords. Ministers do not, however, legally have to come from United Kingdom to dominate international trade in the 19th century. However, Parliament, though that is the modern day custom. The British system of as other nations industrialized and surplus labour from agriculture began government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the British to dry up, the United Kingdom started to lose its economic advantage. As Empire’s colonial past - most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms. a result, heavy industry declined throughout the 20th century. The British The prime minister is chosen as the Member of Parliament (MP) who can service sector, however, has grown substantially, and now makes up about command a majority in the House of Commons - usually the leader of the 73% of GDP. largest party or, if there is no majority party, the largest coalition. The service sector of the United Kingdom is dominated by financial services, In the United Kingdom, the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but especially in banking and insurance. London is one of the world’s largest his or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch financial centres with the London Stock Exchange, the London International is an integral part of Parliament (as the “Crown-in-Parliament”) and Financial Futures and Options Exchange, and the Lloyd’s of London theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. insurance market all based in the city. It also has the largest concentration An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the of foreign bank branches in the world. In the past decade, a rival financial monarch (known as Royal Assent), although not one has refused assent centre in London has grown in the Docklands area, with HSBC, Citigroup, to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708. and Barclays Bank all relocating their head offices there. The Scottish capital, Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested, the popularity Edinburgh also has a large financial sector, the sixth largest in Europe. of the monarchy remains strong in the United Kingdom. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, The British manufacturing sector, however, has greatly diminished since with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent. The current monarch is Queen World War II. It is still a significant part of the economy, but only accounted for Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. one-sixth of national output in 2003. The British motor industry is a significant part of this sector, although all large-volume producers are now foreign- Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate owned. Civil and defence aircraft production is led by the United Kingdom’s legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of largest aerospace firm, BAE Systems, and the pan-European consortium parliamentary sovereignty (however, questions over sovereignty have known as Airbus. Rolls-Royce holds a major share of the global aerospace been brought forward due to the UK’s entry in to the European Union). It is engines market. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry is also strong bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected in the UK, with the world’s second and third largest pharmaceutical firms House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of (GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, respectively) being based in the UK. COUNTER-CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: Changing the Guards at Buckingham Palace, Commons is the more powerful of the two houses. The House of Commons London; London Underground station; Stonehenge, houses 646 members who are directly elected from single-member The United Kingdom’s agriculture sector is small by European standards, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire; White Cliffs of Dover, Kent constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has 724 members accounting for only 0.9% of GDP. The UK though has large coal, natural gas, (though this number is not fixed), constituted of hereditary peers (The House and oil reserves. Primary energy production accounts for about 10% of Gross of Lords Act 1999 removed the inheritance of peerage and permitted just 92 domestic product (GDP), one of the highest shares of any industrial state. hereditary peers to remain), life peers, and bishops of the Church of England.

ECONOMY Based on market exchange rates, the United Kingdom is the fifth-largest economy in the world; the second largest in Europe after Germany, and the sixth-largest overall by purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates.

The British were the first in the world to enter the Industrial Revolution, and, like most industrializing countries at the time, initially concentrated on heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining, steel production, and textiles.

48 G8 Nations at-a-glance United Kingdom 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 49 Torii Gates, Tokyo

Japan

JAPAN Japan is an East Asian island country located in the Pacifi c Ocean, east FAST FACTS of China and Korea, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. It is composed of over 3,000 islands, the Capital: Tokyo largest of which are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Most of Japan’s islands are mountainous, and many are volcanic; the highest peak is Mount Fuji. Largest city: Tokyo

The written history of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese Offi cial language: Japanese history texts from the fi rst century CE. However, archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the Government: Constitutional monarchy upper Paleolithic period. Japanese history has had alternating periods of long isolation punctuated by radical, sometimes revolutionary, infl uence Emperor: Akihito from the outside world. Its culture today is a mixture of such outside infl uences and traditional culture. Prime Minister: Junichiro Koizumi Japan has the world’s second largest economy, one of the world’s leading Formation: industrialized nations and is member of the G8, G4, APEC and a major Emperor Jimmu 660 BC economic global power as sixth largest exporter and importer. It is a unitary Meiji Restoration: January 3, 1868 constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, called Current constitution: May 3, 1947 the Diet, which is one of the oldest legislative bodies in Asia. Despite its Treaty of San Francisco: April 28, 1952 rugged terrain, Japan is one of the most populous and most densely populated countries in the world. Greater Tokyo, with over 30 million Total area: residents, is the largest metropolitan area in the world. 377,835 km2 (63) 145,883 sq mi The characters that make up Japan’s name literally mean “Land of the Rising Sun”, a name that comes from the country’s eastward position Population: relative to China. 2005 est. 128,085,000 (10th)

Density: GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS 337/km2 (19th) In academic studies, Japan is generally considered a constitutional 873/sq mi monarchy, based largely upon the British system with strong infl uences from European continental civil law countries such as Germany and France. GDP (PPP): For example, in 1896 the Japanese government established Minpo, the Civil Code, on the French model. With post-World War II modifi cations, the 2006 estimate: $4.167 trillion (3rd) code remains in effect in present-day Japan. Per capita: $32,640 (16th)

The Constitution of Japan states that the nation’s “highest organ of Currency: state power” is its bicameral parliament, the National Diet (Kokkai). The Yen (¥) (JPY) Diet consists of a House of Representatives (Lower House or Shugi-in) containing 480 seats, elected by popular vote every 4 years or when dissolved, and a House of Councillors (Upper House or Sangi-in) of 242 seats, whose popularly-elected members serve six-year terms. There is universal adult (over 20 years old) suffrage, with a secret ballot for all elective offi ces.

50 G8 Nations at-a-glance Japan 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 51 Tokyo Tower, Tokyo

Japan

The Cabinet is composed of a Prime Minister and ministers of state, and is Distinguishing characteristics of the Japanese economy include the responsible to the Diet. The Prime Minister must be a member of the Diet, and cooperation of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and banks in closely- is designated by his colleagues. The Prime Minister has the power to appoint knit groups called keiretsu; the powerful enterprise unions and shunto; and remove ministers, a majority of whom must be Diet members. The liberal cozy relations with government bureaucrats, and the guarantee of lifetime conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been in power since 1955, employment (shushin koyo) in big corporations and highly unionized blue- except for a short-lived coalition government formed from its opposition collar factories. Recently, Japanese companies have begun to abandon some parties in 1993; the largest opposition party is the liberal-socialist Democratic of these norms in an attempt to increase profitability. Party of Japan. The current government of Junichiro Koizumi has enacted or attempted The Imperial Household of Japan is headed by the Emperor of Japan. The to pass major privatization and foreign-investment laws intended to help Constitution of Japan defines the emperor to be “the symbol of the state stimulate Japan’s dormant economy. Although the effectiveness of these laws and of the unity of the people”. He performs ceremonial duties and holds is still ambiguous, the economy has begun to respond, but Japan’s aging no real power; not even emergency reserve powers. Power is mainly held population is expected to place further strain on growth in the near future. by the Prime Minister, and other elected members of the Diet. Sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people by the constitution. Though his official status is disputed, on diplomatic occasions the emperor tends to behave (with FOREIGN RELATIONS AND MILITARY widespread public support, it should be noted) as though he were a head of A major economic power, Japan is a member of the G8. It is also a member state. As of 2006, Japan is the only country in the world with an emperor. of the APEC, a part of the “ASEAN plus three” group, and a participant in the East Asia Summit. The country is a leader in international aid and Japan maintains close economic and military ties with its key ally, the United development efforts, donating 0.19% of its Gross National Income in 2004. States, and the US-Japan security alliance serves as the cornerstone of its foreign policy. Japan is a member state of the United Nations and currently Japan’s relationship with its neighbors, however, can be described as tenuous serving as a non-permanent Security Council member. It is also one of the at best. It currently has territorial disputes with Russia over the Kuril Islands, “G4 nations” seeking permanent membership in the Security Council. with South Korea over Dokdo (Takeshima), with the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) over the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutai Islands), and with the People’s Republic of China over the status of Okinotori. ECONOMY These disputes are in part about the control of marine and natural resources, Japan is a major economic global power. Government-industry cooperation, such as possible reserves of crude oil and natural gas. In recent years, Japan CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small has also had an ongoing dispute with North Korea over its abduction of Buddhist temple, Nitoh; Pedestrians in the rain, defense allocation have helped Japan advance with extraordinary speed to Japanese citizens and nuclear weapons program. Tokyo; The Great Buddha at Todaiji, Nara; View of become one of the largest economies in the world. For three decades, overall Mount Fuji from the Izu Peninsula real economic growth had been spectacular: a 10% average in the 1960s, Japan’s military is restricted by Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan that a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed states that, “The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right markedly in the 1990s largely due to the after-effects of over-investment of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international during the late 1980s and domestic policies intended to wring speculative disputes.” Thus, Japan’s current constitution prohibits the use of military force excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Government efforts to revive to wage war against other countries. economic growth have met with little success and were further hampered in 2000 to 2001 by the slowing of the global economy. Japan’s military is primarily consisted of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self- However, the economy saw signs of strong recovery in 2005. GDP growth Defense Force. Its military budget is estimated to be the sixth largest in the for the year was 2.8%, with an annualized fourth quarter expansion of 5.5%, world at around $48 billion per year. The forces have been recently used surpassing the growth rate of the US and European Union during the same peacekeeping operations and Japan’s recent deployment of non-combat period. Unlike previous recovery trends, domestic consumption has been troops to Iraq marked the first overseas use of its military since World War II. the dominant factor in leading the growth. Hence, the Japanese government predicts that recovery will continue throughout 2006.

52 G8 Nations at-a-glance Japan 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 53 Trevi Fountain, Rome

Italy

ITALY Italy, offi cially the Italian Republic, is a Southern European country. It FAST FACTS comprises the Italian peninsula, the Po River valley, and two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia, and shares its northern alpine Capital: Rome boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. The country also shares a sea border with Croatia, and France. The independent countries of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italian territory. Largest city: Rome

Italy was home to many well-known and infl uential European civilizations, Offi cial language: Italian including the Etruscans, Greeks and the Romans. For more than 3,000 years Italy experienced migrations and invasions from Germanic, Celtic, Frankish, Government: Republic Byzantine Greek, Saracen, Norman, and the French Angevin, and Lombard peoples, and was divided into many independent states until 1861 when Italy President: Giorgio Napolitano became a nation-state.

Prime Minister: Romano Prodi Italy is called “il Belpaese” by its inhabitants, due to the beauty and variety of its landscapes and for having the world’s largest artistic patrimony; The Unifi cation: country is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (40 17 March 1861 as of January 1, 2006). As a Republic: 2 June 1946 Today, Italy is a highly developed country with the 8th highest GDP in 2006, Accession to EU: a member of the G8 and a founding member of what is now the European March 25, 1957 Union, having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957.

Total area: 301,230 km2 (71st) GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS 116,346.5 sq mi Modern Italy became a nation-state belatedly—on March 17, 1861, when most of the states of the peninsula were united under king Victor Emmanuel II Population: of the Savoy dynasty, which ruled over Sardinia and Piedmont. The architects 2006 est. 58,594,273 (22nd) of Italian unifi cation were Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the Chief Minister October 2001 census 57,110,144 of Victor Emmanuel, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and national hero. Rome itself remained for a little less than a decade under the Papacy, and Density: became part of the Kingdom of Italy only on September 20, 1870. The 192.8/km2 (40th) Vatican is now an independent enclave surrounded by Rome. Italy is currently 499.4/sq mi a republic. The Italian Republic was created by popular referendum in 1946 after World War II and the fall of Mussolini’s fascist regime. GDP (PPP): The 1948 Constitution of Italy established a bicameral parliament 2005 estimate (Parlamento), consisting of a Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei Deputati) $1.645 trillion (8th) and a Senate (Senato della Repubblica), a separate judiciary, and an Per capita executive branch composed of a Council of Ministers (cabinet) (Consiglio dei $28,300 (21st) ministri), headed by the prime minister (Presidente del consiglio dei ministri).

Currency: Euro (€) (EUR)

54 G8 Nations at-a-glance Italy 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 55 View of Riomaggiore, Cinque Terra The Tower of Pisa

Italy

The President of the Republic (Presidente della Repubblica) is elected for ECONOMY seven years by the parliament sitting jointly with a small number of regional According to GDP calculations, as measured by purchasing power parity delegates. The president nominates the prime minister, who proposes the (PPP), Italy is ranked as the eighth largest economy in the world in 2006, other ministers (formally named by the president). The Council of Ministers behind the United States, Japan, Germany, India, China, UK, and France, must retain the support (fiducia) of both houses. and the fourth largest in Europe. According to the OECD, in 2004 Italy was the world’s sixth-largest exporter of manufactured goods. This capitalistic The houses of parliament are popularly and directly elected through a economy remains divided into a developed industrial north, dominated proportional representation system. The Chamber of Deputies has 630 by private companies, and a less developed agricultural south. Most raw members, the Senate 315 elected senators; in addition, the Senate includes materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy requirements former presidents and other persons (no more than five) appointed senators are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a tight fiscal policy in for life by the President of the Republic according to special constitutional order to meet the requirements of the Economic and Monetary Union and has provisions. As of 15 May 2006, there are seven life senators (of which three benefited from lower interest and inflation rates. Italy joined the Euro from its are former Presidents). Both houses are elected for a maximum of five conception in 1999. years, but both may be dissolved before the expiration of their normal term. Legislative bills may originate in either house and must be passed by a Italy’s economic performance has at times lagged behind that of its EU majority in both. The Italian judicial system is based on Roman law modified partners, and the current government has enacted numerous short-term by the Napoleonic code and later statutes. A constitutional court, the Corte reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term growth. It has Costituzionale, passes on the constitutionality of laws, and is a post-World moved slowly, however, on implementing certain structural reforms favoured War II innovation. All Italian citizens older than 18 can vote. However, to vote by economists, such as lightening the high tax burden and overhauling Italy’s for the senate, the voter must be at least 25 or older. rigid labour market and expensive pension system, because of the current economic slowdown and opposition from labour unions. COUNTER-CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: The Italian State has twenty regions and about a hundred provinces. Duomo Cathedral, Milan; Vittoriano, Altare della The constitution of Italy provides for twenty regions with extended powers. Since 1992, economic policy in Italy has focused primarily on reducing Patria, Rome; Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan Regions are further divided in provinces. Provinces also have their own local government budget deficits and reining in the national debt. Successive elections. For each of the provinces, a prefect is appointed by and responds Italian governments have adopted annual austerity budgets with cutbacks to the central government, which he locally represents. While the number of in spending, as well as new revenue raising measures. Italy has enjoyed a regions is somewhat stable (the only modification to the original set is the primary budget surplus, net of interest payments, for the last 7 years. The separation of Molise from Abruzzo), there has been a tendency in later years deficit in public administration declined to 1.4% of GDP in 2000, down from to create new provinces, such as Crotone, Verbania, Lodi, Biella, Lecco 7% in 1995. Italy joined the Economic and Monetary Union in May 1998. The and others. national debt, which stood at roughly 124% of GDP in 1995, declined steadily until about 2002, but is raising again because of slow growth. The deficit-to- Five regions (Aosta Valley, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-South GDP ratio is likely going to be higher than the EU limit of 3.0% in 2005, and Tyrol) have special charters granting them varying degrees of autonomy. estimates of up to 5.1% have appeared. The raisons d’être of these charters is in most cases the presence of significant linguistic and cultural minorities, but in the case of Sicily it was to calm down separatist movements. The other 15 regions were in practice established in 1970, even if their ideation had been a much earlier idea. They vote for regional councils.

56 G8 Nations at-a-glance Italy 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 57 View of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff

Canada

CANADA Canada is the world’s second-largest country by area, occupying most FAST FACTS of northern North America. Extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacifi c Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, Canada shares land borders Capital: Ottawa, Ontario with the United States to the south and to the northwest. Inhabited fi rst by Aboriginal peoples, Canada was founded as a union of British colonies, which had earlier been French colonies. Canada peacefully obtained Largest city: Toronto, Ontario independence from the United Kingdom in a process spanning from 1867 to 1982. Offi cial languages: English, French

Canada is a federal constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, Government: Federal, consisting of ten provinces and three territories, and defi nes itself as a Constitutional Monarchy bilingual and multicultural nation; both English and French are offi cial Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II languages. A technologically advanced and industrialized nation, its Governor General: Michaëlle Jean diversifi ed economy relies heavily on an abundance of natural resources Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and on trade, particularly with the United States, with which Canada has had a long and complex relationship. Independence: From the UK/BNA Act: July 1, 1867 The name Canada is believed to come from the Huron-Iroquois word Statute of Westminster: kanata, which means “village” or “settlement”. In 1535, locals used the December 11, 1931 word to tell Jacques Cartier the way to the village of Stadacona, site Canada Act: April 17, 1982 of present-day Quebec City. Cartier used Canada to refer not only to Stadacona, but also to the entire area subject to Donnacona, Chief at Total area: Stadacona; by 1547, maps began referring to this and the surrounding area 9,984,670 km2 (2nd) as Canada. 3,854,083 sq mi

Population: GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS July 2006 est. 32,547,200 (36th) Canada is a constitutional monarchy that recognizes Elizabeth II as 2001 census 30,007,094 Queen of Canada (since February 6, 1952), and a parliamentary democracy with a federal system of parliamentary government, and Density: strong democratic traditions. 3.3/km2 (185th) 8.5/sq mi Canada’s constitution governs the legal framework of the country and consists of written text and unwritten traditions and conventions. The Constitution includes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, GDP (PPP): which guarantees basic rights and freedoms for Canadians that, generally, 2006 estimate: $1.077 trillion (11th) cannot be overridden by legislation of any level of government in Canada. Per capita: $34,273 (7th) It contains, however, a “notwithstanding clause”, which allows the federal parliament and the provincial legislatures the power to override some other Currency: sections of the Charter temporarily, for a period of fi ve years. Canadian Dollar ($) (CAD) The position of Prime Minister, Canada’s head of government, belongs to the leader of the political party that can obtain the confi dence of a majority in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister and his or her cabinet are formally appointed by the Governor General (who is the

58 G8 Nations at-a-glance Canada 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 59 Canadian Parliament Building, Ottawa, Ontario

Canada

queen’s representative in Canada.) However, the Prime Minister chooses about three quarters of Canadians. However, Canada is unusual among the cabinet and the Governor General, by convention, respects the Prime developed countries in the importance of the primary sector, with the logging Minister’s choices. The Cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the and oil industries being two of Canada’s most important. Prime Minister’s party in both legislative houses, and mostly from the House of Commons. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and cabinet, Canada is one of the world’s most important suppliers of agricultural all of whom are sworn into the Privy Council of Canada and become Ministers products, with the Canadian Prairies one of the most important suppliers of of the Crown. The Prime Minister exercises a great deal of political power, wheat and other grains. Canada is the world’s largest producer of zinc and especially in the appointment of other officials within the government and civil uranium and a world leader in many other natural resources such as gold, service. Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party, has served nickel, aluminum, and lead; many, if not most, towns in the northern part of as Prime Minister since February 6, 2006. the country, where agriculture is difficult, exist because of a nearby mine or source of timber. Canada also has a sizeable manufacturing sector, centred in The federal parliament is made up of the Queen and two houses: an elected southern Ontario, with the automobile industry especially important. House of Commons and an appointed Senate. Each member in the House of Commons is elected by simple plurality in a “riding” or electoral district; In part due to the large primary sector Canada is highly dependent on general elections are called by the Governor General when the Prime Minister international trade, especially trade with the United States. The 1989 Canada- so advises, and must occur every five years or less. Members of the Senate, U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and 1994 North American Free Trade CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, are chosen by the Prime Agreement (NAFTA) (which included Mexico) touched off a dramatic increase Canadian Parliament Building, Ottawa, Ontario; Minister and formally appointed by the Governor General, and serve until in trade and economic integration with the U.S. Since 2001, Canada has View of Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls, Ontario; age 75. successfully avoided economic recession and has maintained the best overall Royal Canadian Mounted Police economic performance in the G8. Canada’s four major political parties are the Conservative Party of Canada, Liberal Party of Canada, New Democratic Party (NDP), and the Bloc Québécois. The current government is formed by the Conservative Party of FOREIGN RELATIONS AND MILITARY Canada. While the Green Party of Canada and other smaller parties do not Canada has a close relationship with the United States, sharing the world’s have current representation in Parliament, the list of historical parties with longest undefended border, cooperating on some military campaigns and elected representation is substantial. exercises, and being each other’s largest trading partners. Canada also shares history and long relationships with the United Kingdom and France, the two imperial powers most important in its founding. These relations extend ECONOMY to other former-members of the British and French empires, through Canada’s Canada is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, a member of the Organization membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie. for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Group of Eight (G8). Canada is a free market economy with slightly more government Over the past 60 years, Canada has been an advocate for multilateralism, intervention than the United States, but much less than most European making efforts to resolve global issues in collaboration with other nations. nations. Canada has traditionally had a lower per capita gross domestic This was clearly demonstrated during the Suez Crisis of 1956 when Lester B. product (GDP) than its southern neighbor (whereas wealth has been more Pearson eased tensions by proposing peacekeeping efforts and the inception equally divided), but higher than the large western European economies. For of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. In that spirit, Canada developed the past decade the Canadian economy has been growing rapidly with low and has tried to maintain a leading role in UN peacekeeping efforts; Canada unemployment and large government surpluses on the federal level. As of has served in 50 peacekeeping missions, including every UN peacekeeping May 2006, Canada’s national unemployment rate of 6.1% is its lowest since effort until 1989. 1974, provincial unemployment rates vary from 3.4% to 14.8%.

In the past century, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. As with other first world nations, the Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry, which employs

60 G8 Nations at-a-glance Canada 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 61 Berlin Cathedral, Berlin

Germany

GERMANY Germany, offi cially the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik FAST FACTS Deutschland), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, to the east by Poland and the Czech Capital: Berlin Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Largest city: Berlin Germany is a democratic parliamentary federal republic, made up of 16 states (Bundesländer), which in certain spheres act independently of the Offi cial language: German federation. Historically consisting of several sovereign nations with their own history, language (distinct dialects), culture and religion, Germany was unifi ed Government: Federal Republic as a nation state during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/1871.

President: Horst Köhler The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Chancellor: Angela Merkel Union. It is the European Union’s most populous and most economically powerful member state. The state now known as Germany was unifi ed as a Vice Chancellor: Franz Müntefering modern nation-state only in 1871, when the German Empire, dominated by the Kingdom of Prussia, was forged. Formation: German Empire: January 18, 1871 Federal Republic: May 23, 1949 POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT Reunifi cation: October 3, 1990 German politics take place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor is Accession to EU: the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive March 25, 1953 (West Germany) power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in October 3, 1990 (East Germany) both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Bundestag and Bundesrat. Since 1949 the party system is dominated by the conservative Total area: Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. 357,050 km2 (63rd) 137,858 sq mi The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution, the Grundgesetz Population: (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after 1990’s 2005 est. 82,689,000 (14th) German Reunifi cation. The constitution emphasizes the protection of individual liberty in an extensive catalogue of human rights and also divides powers both between the federal and state levels and between the legislative, Density: executive, and judicial branches. In many ways, the 1949 Grundgesetz is a 230.9/km2 (34th) strong response to the perceived fl aws of the failed 1919 Weimar Republic, 598.5/sq mi which collapsed in 1933 and was replaced by the dictatorship of the Third Reich. GDP (PPP): 2005 estimate: $2,521,699 million (5th) The Federal Republic (Bundesrepublik) consists of 16 federal states Per capita: $30,579 (17th) (Länder, also referred to as Bundesländer). The Grundgesetz prescribes that legislature is to be handled by the states except where explicitly stated in the Currency: Grundgesetz itself. This principle has been more or less reversed in practice Euro (€) (EUR) through many amendments of the constitution since 1949, leaving basically

62 G8 Nations at-a-glance Germany 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 63 Palace Bridge, Berlin

Germany

only police, education, cultural and communal affairs to be handled by state FORE IGN RELATIONS AND MILITARY legislature. The executive branch, though, is still mainly organized at the state Germany plays a leading role in the European Union, having a strong level, which means that laws that the state civil services operate under and alliance with France. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking enforce are to a large extent federal laws. This strengthens the states’ role in to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, federal legislation via the Bundesrat. The political systems of the individual defence and security apparatus. states are prescribed by state constitutions, but resemble that of the federal level to a certain extent. The heads of the federal states’ governments are Since its establishment on May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany called Ministerpräsidenten (Minister-President) or—in case of the three kept a notably low profile in international relations, both because of its recent city-states—Regierender Bürgermeister (Governor-Mayor, in Berlin), Erster history as well as its occupied status. In 1999, however, on the occasion of the Bürgermeister (First Mayor, in Hamburg) or Bürgermeister und Präsident NATO war against Yugoslavia, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s government des Senats (Mayor and President of the Senate, in Bremen). They each form broke convention by sending German troops into combat for the first time a state cabinet as well, although it is usually much smaller than the federal since World War II. government. Elections for the parliaments of the Bundesländer occur every four to five years, depending on the state. In 2003, France, Germany and Russia were leaders in the coalition of nations opposing the US-led war in Iraq. Nevertheless, the German government has offered help to the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, but only outside of the war- ECONOMY torn country, mainly by training Iraqi military and police personnel. Germany is the largest European economy and the third largest economy in Germany and the United States have been close allies since the end of the the world in real terms, placed behind the United States, and Japan and fifth Second World War. The Marshall Plan and continued US support during behind China and India counted by purchasing power parity. According to the the rebuilding process after World War II, as well as the significant influence World Trade Organization, Germany is also the world’s top exporter, ahead of American culture has had on German culture, have crafted a strong bond the United States and number two in the world regarding to imports.Its trade between Germany and the US that lasts to this day. Not only do the United surplus in trade of goods reached 160.5 billion EUR (204 billion USD) in 2005. States and Germany share many cultural similarities but they are also deeply Germany currently has the largest trade surplus of all countries in the world. economically interdependent. 8.8% of all German exports are US bound, While it has positive trade balances with most of its EU-partners or the United and US-German trade according to the US Census Bureau totalled $108.2 States, it runs trade deficits with China or Japan. Its major trading partners billion for 2004. An illustration of the strong economic relations between the include France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and US and Germany may be the fact that 18.3% of all cars sold in the US were the Netherlands. manufactured by German car manufacturers. Other signs of the close ties COUNTER-CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: An interior view of the Reichstag, the seat of the between Germany and the US are the fact that German-Americans remain the German Parliament, Berlin; Neuschwanstein Castle, While other nations like the United States or the United Kingdom supported largest ethnic group in the US and the largest US community outside the US Bavaria; Cathedral, Central Germany; Rear view of their economy by an expansive fiscal policy and growing government is the Ramstein Air Base, close to the city of Kaiserslautern, Germany. the Reichstag, Berlin employment, Germany’s government runs a restrictive fiscal policy (partially as a result of the restrictions of the “Maastricht treaty”) and has cut a lot of regular jobs in the public sector. Since reunification there has been a net loss of estimated 1 million regular jobs in the public sector. Today Germany has a significantly lower regular government employment (14.8%) than most other industrial countries. But while regular employment in the public sector shrank, “irregular” government employment like so called 1-Euro-Jobs (jobs mainly in the social sector paid with unemployment insurance plus 1 Euro per hour worked), government supported self-employment (ICH-AG) and job training increased. More than 1.5 million of Germany’s 38.7 million workers are in government supported jobs. Despite the tense situation in East-Germany, total government employment in Germany remains lower (18.8% of all workers) than in the United Kingdom (20%), Canada (19.4%), the Scandinavian Countries and not much higher than in the United States.

64 G8 Nations at-a-glance Germany 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 65 European Union Parliament building, Brussels

European Union

EUROPEAN UNION The European Union (EU) is an intergovernmental and supranational union FAST FACTS of 25 member states. The European Union was established under that name in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty). Administrative centre: However, many aspects of the Union existed before that date through a Brussels series of predecessor relationships, dating back to 1951.

The Union nowadays has a common single market consisting of a customs Largest cities: union, a single currency managed by the European Central Bank (so far Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome adopted by 12 of the 25 member states), a Common Agricultural Policy, a common trade policy, and a Common Fisheries Policy. A Common Foreign Member states: and Security Policy was also established as the second of the three pillars 25 member states of the European Union. The Schengen Agreement abolished passport control, and customs checks were also abolished at many of the EU’s Offi cial languages: internal borders, creating a single space of mobility for EU citizens to live, 20 offi cial languages travel, work and invest.

Presidencies: The most important EU institutions include the Council of the European European Council: Matti Vanhanen Union, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the Council of the EU: Finland European Central Bank and the European Parliament. The European European Commission: Parliament’s origins go back to the 1950s and the founding treaties, and José Manuel Barroso since 1979 its members have been directly elected by the people they European Parliament: represent. Elections are held every fi ve years, and every EU citizen who is Josep Borrell Fontelles registered as a voter is entitled to vote.

History The European Union’s activities cover all areas of public policy, from health Europe Day: May 9, 1950 and economic policy to foreign affairs and defense. However, the extent Formation as EEC – Treaty of Rome of its powers differs greatly between areas. Depending on the area in Signed: March 25, 1957 question, the EU may therefore resemble a federation (on monetary affairs, Formation as EU – Maastricht Treaty agricultural, trade and environmental policy, economic and social policy), Signed: February 7, 1992 a confederation (on home affairs) or an international organization (in foreign affairs). Total area: 3,976,372 km2 ECONOMY If considered a single unit, the European Union has the largest economy Population in the world with a GDP of 12,427,413 million USD (2005) using PPP 2006 est. 457,514,494 equivalence. The EU economy is expected to grow further over the next decade as more countries join the union — especially considering that the Density new states are usually poorer than the EU average, and have the capacity 115.6 /km2 to grow at a higher rate. The European Council published estimations on 17 November 2005 that the economy of the European Union will have grown GDP (PPP): approximately 1.5% in 2005 (1.3% in the eurozone), and 2.3% 2006 (2.1% in $13,427,4135 billion the eurozone) surpassing earlier growth predictions. In 2006 the eurozone Per capita: $26,900 will create 3½ million jobs. The European Council is hopeful that the European Union will grow further in the future; economic growth for 2007 is

66 G8 Nations at-a-glance European Union 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 67 European Union Member States European Union

Austria expected to be at 2.7%. Germany, the largest economy in the EU, will The European Commission represents and upholds the interests of Europe Belgium grow about: 0.8% in 2005, 1.2% in 2006 and 1.6% in 2007. After extremely as a whole. It is independent of national governments. It drafts proposals for slow growth, the EU’s rate of growth is expected to increase in the next couple new European laws, which it presents to the European Parliament and the Cyprus of years. EU member states have agreed a program called the Lisbon Council. It manages the day-to-day business of implementing EU policies Czech Republic Strategy which aims at making “the EU the world’s most dynamic and and spending EU funds. The Commission also keeps an eye out to see that Denmark competitive economy” by 2010. everyone abides by the European treaties and laws. It can act against rule- Estonia breakers, taking them to the Court of Justice if necessary.

Finland ALL IMAGES THIS PAGE: GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS The Commission consists of 25 women and men — one from each EU France European Union Parliament building, The European Parliament is elected every five years by the people of Europe country. They are assisted by about 24 000 civil servants, most of whom work Brussels, Belgium Germany to represent their interests. The present parliament, elected in June 2004, has in Brussels. The President of the Commission is chosen by EU governments Greece 732 members from all 25 EU countries. and endorsed by the European Parliament. The other commissioners are Hungary nominated by their national governments in consultation with the in-coming Ireland The main job of Parliament is to pass European laws. It shares this President, and must be approved by the Parliament. They do not represent the governments of their home countries. Instead, each of them has Italy responsibility with the Council of the European Union, and the proposals for new laws come from the European Commission. Parliament and Council also responsibility for a particular EU policy area. The President and members of Latvia share joint responsibility for approving the EU’s €100 billion annual budget. the Commission are appointed for a period of five years, coinciding with the Lithuania Parliament has the power to dismiss the European Commission. period for which the European Parliament is elected. Luxembourg Malta Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) do not sit in national blocks, STATUS Poland but in seven Europe-wide political groups. The largest of these are the centre-right European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), followed by the The members of the European Union have transferred to it considerable Portugal Socialists, the Liberals and the Greens. Between them, MEPs represent all sovereignty, more than that of any other non-sovereign regional organization. Slovakia views on European integration, from the strongly pro-federalist to the openly As has been mentioned, in certain areas the EU begins to take on the Slovenia Eurosceptic. The main meetings of the Parliament are held in Strasbourg, character of a federation or confederation. However, in legal terms, member Spain others in Brussels. Like all other EU institutions, it works in all 20 official states remain the masters of the Treaties, which means that the Union does Sweden EU languages. The Parliament elects the European Ombudsman, who not have the power to transfer additional powers from states onto itself without investigates citizens’ complaints about maladministration by the European their agreement through further international treaties. Further, in many areas The Netherlands Union institutions. member states have given up relatively little national sovereignty, particularly United Kingdom in key areas of national interest such as foreign relations and defense. The Council of the European Union—formerly known as the Council of Acceding and Ministers—shares with Parliament the responsibility for passing laws and On October 29, 2004, EU member state heads of government and state taking policy decisions. It also bears the main responsibility for what the EU signed the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. This has been Candidate Countries does in the field of the common foreign and security policy and for EU action ratified by 13 member states and is currently awaiting ratification by the other on some justice and freedom issues. The Council consists of ministers from states. However, this process faltered on May 29, 2005 when the majority of Bulgaria the national governments of all the EU countries. Meetings are attended by French voters rejected the constitution in a referendum by 54.7%. The French Croatia whichever ministers are responsible for the items to be discussed: foreign rejection was followed three days later by a Dutch one on June 1 when in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ministers, ministers of the economy and finance, ministers for agriculture and Netherlands 61.6% of voters refused the constitution as well. Romania so on, as appropriate. Each country has a number of votes in the Council Turkey broadly reflecting the size of their population, but weighted in favour of smaller The current and future status of the European Union therefore continues to countries. Most decisions are taken by majority vote, although sensitive be subject of political controversy, with widely differing views both within issues in areas like taxation, asylum and immigration, or foreign and security and between member states. However, many countries are more in favour of policy, require unanimity. Up to four times a year the presidents and/or European integration — soon after the Netherlands and the French voted “no” prime ministers of the Member States meet as the European Council. on the constitution, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg voted “yes.” What the These ‘summit’ meetings set overall EU policy. term “European integration” itself means is also the subject of much debate.

68 G8 Nations at-a-glance European Union 2006 G8 SUMMIT SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 69 SUMMIT S A I N T P E T E R S B U R G , R U S S I A • J U LY 1 5 - 1 7 2 0 0 6

2006 2006 G8 SUMMIT PUBLICATION • SPECIAL VIP, DELEGATE AND PRESS EDITION

SPECIAL FEATURE ARTICLES ON: • ENHANCING GLOBAL EDUCATION • GLOBAL ENERGY SECURITY • FIGHTING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

PLUS: A POLITICAL & ECONOMIC OVERVIEW OF G8 MEMBER NATIONS & THEIR LEADERS INCLUDING RUSSIA, FRANCE, USA, GREAT BRITAIN, JAPAN, ITALY, CANADA, GERMANY AND THE EUROPEAN UNION