G7, G10, G20… International discussion groups appear to find their identity in numbers, a puzzling phenomenon given that some have the same name or a figure that does not equate with member numbers.
Here is brief guide to decoding these ”Group of” numbers: conceived as a G5 of the finance ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. In 1975 heads of state and government were included and Italy joined, making it a G6.
Canada’s entry in 1996 brought it to a G7.
And Russia’s growing involvement with the G7 has led to the entrenchment of the G8 concept.
As a counterweight to the G7, developing countries created the G15 in 1989.
During the height of the Cold War, the G77 was born in 1964 with 77 countries. Historically linked to the non-aligned movement, it represents Third World countries and now numbers more than 130.
Things get tricky with the G10. They are 10 nations that are net importers of farm products which have joined forces to defend their own agriculture sectors in negotiations at the World Trade Organisation. The group includes Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Bulgaria and the Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius.
But the G10 is also the name of a group of central bankers of 11 countries — the G7 plus Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. They meet every two months and convene once a year with their finance ministers.
The G20 label is also shared. It applies to an informal forum of industrialised and emerging countries created in the wake of the financial crises of the late 1990s. The G20 — grouping the finance ministers and central bankers of 19 countries plus the European Union — opens a meeting on Friday in Berlin.
But G20 also is the name of choice for a more headline-grabbing group of emerging countries, led by Argentina, Brazil, China and India. It appeared on the international scene in 2003, just after the failed WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to plead for an end to export subidies by rich countries.
At the same time, there was also a lot of talk about the G33, the developing countries who were demanding tariff exemptions on farm products deemed strategic, and of the G90, grouping the poorest countries, mainly African, which oppose rich countries’ farm protectionist policies. – Sapa-AFP