ABSTRACT
Macroeconomic policy co-ordination, international trade and North-South relations have been of concern to the Group of Seven/Group of Eight (G8) from the beginning. The most important issue at Bonn in 1985 was trade, but that summit failed to agree on a starting date for the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations, thereby earning the lowest mark in Robert D. Putnam and Nicholas Bayne’s ranking of summits by result. The theme of the 1992 Munich Summit, reflected in the title of the final communique, was “working together for growth and a safer world”. The political and global-issue agenda of the Lyon Summit centred on security and stability, and encompassed the strengthening and further reform of the UN system. The agenda of the 1998 Birmingham G8 Summit centred on three themes: promoting sustainable growth in the global economy; employability and social inclusion; and combatting drug trafficking and other forms of transnational crime.
