G7
Economic
Because no treaty was ever signed, the G7 has no charter, no secretariat and no procedure for admitting anyone. The chair rotates by the year in a fixed order, and its holder hosts the summit. Six heads of state and government met at Rambouillet from 15 to 17 November 1975. Canada joined at San Juan the following June. Russia sat with the group from 1998 until 24 March 2014.
7 countries
Common questions
Questions about G7
Which countries are in the G7?
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union sits with them and has done since the London summit of May 1977, without taking the chair or hosting a summit. The list of states was six at Rambouillet in November 1975, took Canada in at San Juan in June 1976, and has not been altered since.
How does a country join the G7?
There is no procedure. No treaty founded the group, no charter sets a criterion and no secretariat receives applications, so there is nothing to sign and no office to send it to. The nearest thing to a test is the line in the Rambouillet declaration of 17 November 1975 about shared beliefs and shared responsibilities, written as a description of those in the room rather than as a condition for anybody else.
Why is Russia not in the G7?
It was, under the name G8, from the Birmingham summit of 15 to 17 May 1998. On 2 March 2014 the leaders suspended preparations for the summit Russia was to host at Sochi. The Hague Declaration of 24 March 2014 recorded that the group had come together because of shared beliefs and shared responsibilities, that Russia's actions were not consistent with them, and that participation in the G8 was suspended. The others met at Brussels on 4 and 5 June 2014 instead.
What is the difference between the G7 and the G20?
Size, and where the work ends up. Every member record filed here also carries the G20, which meets at leaders' level as well. Bodies the smaller group started have repeatedly been handed to the larger one: the Financial Stability Forum, endorsed at Bonn in February 1999, was reconstituted in April 2009 as the Financial Stability Board on a G20 membership, and the minimum tax rate agreed by G7 finance ministers on 5 June 2021 was taken forward through the G20 and OECD Inclusive Framework.
Does the G7 issue anything binding?
No. It publishes a communiqué, negotiated through the year by the leaders' personal representatives and released at the close of the summit, and a communiqué has no legal force. What has outlasted the meetings are the institutions set going and passed on: the Financial Action Task Force, convened on a resolution in the Paris economic declaration of July 1989, and the Financial Stability Forum of April 1999.
Sources
- Declaration of Rambouillet · G7 Information Centre, University of Toronto. The six participants, the dates of 15 to 17 November 1975, and the sentence about shared beliefs and shared responsibilities.
- What are the G7 and G8? · G7 Research Group, University of Toronto. Canada at San Juan in 1976, the European Community at London in 1977, the rotation of the host, the sherpas, and the stages of Russian participation.
- G7/8 Summits · G7 Information Centre. Every summit since 1975 with its host and dates, including Birmingham 1998, St Petersburg 2006, Brussels 2014, Kananaskis 2025 and Évian 2026.
- G7: The Hague Declaration · Text of 24 March 2014, sourced to the European Council. The suspension of participation in the G8, the signature of the two European Union presidents, and the move of the meeting to Brussels.
- Economic Declaration, Paris Summit: Drug Issues · G7 Information Centre. Paragraph 53 of the declaration of 16 July 1989, resolving to convene a financial action task force from summit participants and other interested countries.
- History of the FSB · Financial Stability Board. The endorsement by G7 ministers and governors at Bonn in February 1999, the Tietmeyer recommendation, the first meeting in Washington in April 1999, and the succession of April 2009.
- G7 Finance Ministers' meeting, June 2021: communiqué · HM Treasury. The London meeting of 4 and 5 June 2021, the commitment to a global minimum tax of at least 15% country by country, and the referral to the G20 and OECD Inclusive Framework.
- Charter of the United Nations, Chapter V: The Security Council · United Nations. Article 23 and the permanent seats held by France, the United Kingdom and the United States.