In 2010, Canada will assume two major international leadership roles as president of the G-8 industrialized nations and co-chair of the G-20 summit.
The federal government has announced that Ontario will host the G-8 meeting from June 25 to June 27, and the G-20 summit from June 26 to June 27.
The Group of Eight is an economic and political forum for the leaders of highly industrialized nations, who meet every year to discuss issues facing the world. The permanent member nations of the G-8 are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States and Russia. Leaders of major international organizations such as the European Nation and the United Nations are also expected to attend.
The Group of 20 consists of developing economies and the industrialized developed economies such as Canada, Korea, Japan, United States, India, China, Brazil, South-Africa, Saudi-Arabia, and the European Union. This group includes countries whose cumulative gross domestic product constitutes 80% of the worlds trade. The G-20 is a recent arrival on the international scene, after the G-8 nations realized the importance of including world leaders of the developing countries in discussions since the 2000 economic down-turn.
DeerHurst Resort in the town of Huntsville, Muskoka Region, has been designated as the official site for the G-8 historical meeting, where the world leaders and their government representatives will meet together in various preparatory meetings on the economy and global warming before the real deal later in June.
Initially, the federal government decided upon hosting the two summits in the picturesque region of cottage country at the DeerHurst resort. DeerHurst, however, with its 400 privately owned rooms, announced that it would not be able to accommodate over 10,000 guests attending the two meetings. Toronto was decided as the best location for the G-20, whereas Muskoka was designated at the venue for the G-8 summit.
According to the Industry Canada website, aside from the cultural value of the region, the government has strategically chosen to host the summit in the Muskoka region and Toronto because of Canadas lucrative past experience in hosting international summits, which provided short-term economic benefits for the local community and various long-term benefits to the Canadian economy. The announcement came at an apt time, when Ontarios tourism industry has been badly hit by the recession, with massive layoffs and growing economic insecurity of small business owners in the tourism industry.
According to the research reports published by G-8 and G-20 research groups at U of Ts Munk Centre for International Studies, some of the major issues on the agenda for this years meetings are climate change and the global recession. The two groups will focus on strengthening and cooperating together on the new Financial Stability Board and the International Financial Institution plan. Global warming, the role of greenhouse efficient energy in the industry and its role in the economic recovery process will also be on the table. Another political issue that will be debated amongst the states will be biodiversity and endangered species, along with the issue of nuclear proliferation of Iran and North Korea.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper remains highly optimistic about the issues on the agenda at the G-8 and G-20 summits. During the announcement of the 2010 summits sites and agendas, Harper said, It is my expectation that by the summer of 2010, the global economy will have begun to turn the corner and renewed growth will be in sight. We look forward to welcoming world leaders to Canada next year.
