Following a pair of North American events in 2012 – in May at Camp David in the United States and in June at Los Cabos in Mexico – the G8 and G20 summits will head back across the Atlantic for their annual meetings in 2013.
The first of these events will be the 2013 G8 summit, to be held in the United Kingdom on June 17-18. Prime Minister David Cameron will host G8 leaders and guests for two days of talks at the Lough Erne golf resort in Northern Ireland. Prior to the summit, there will be a Nutrition for Growth event (June 8) and a Golden Thread of Development event (June 15), both to be held in London.
In the latter half of the year, leaders from around the world will come together for the G20 summit. It will be hosted by President Vladimir Putin of Russia at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg on September 5-6.
A full schedule of G8/G20 events, along with additional background information, will be maintained here.
In an open letter to other G8 leaders, Cameron outlined his country’s priorities for the upcoming G8 summit, indicating a focus on three main areas:
- Trade Liberalization: The Prime Minister wants to "push for more openness on trade" and to work through the WTO to help "sweep away trade bureaucracy."
- Tax reform: The UK plans to lead efforts to strengthen international tax standards to help address tax evasion and avoidance.
- Transparency and accountability: Cameron will advocate for greater transparency in land ownership, in extractive industries, and in beneficial ownership of companies in order to help forward the G8 development agenda.
The prime minister elaborated upon these points during a speech before the World Economic Forum in Davos.
On April 10-11, G8 Foreign Ministers met in London, where they discussed a number of pressing transnational political and economic issues, including stability in Africa, transition in Arab states (Deauville Partnership), climate change, and addressing sexual violence in conflict situations. Read the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting Statement here and the Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict here.
The Russian Presidency has also announced a number of agenda items to be addressed, all of which fall under three broad categories:
- Growth through Quality Jobs and Investment
- Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth
- Jobs and Employment
- Development for All
- Food security
- Infrastructure
- Human capital
- Financial Inclusion
- Post-MDGs
- Growth through Trust and Transparency
- International Financial Architecture Reform
- Fighting Corruption
- Growth through Effective Regulation
- Strengthening Financial Regulation
- Enhancing Multilateral Trade
- Energy Sustainability
The Russians have also released an outline giving a more thorough overview of their plans, along with a collection of official G20 documents.
In response to the proposed agendas, the U.S. G8/G20 Advocacy Alliance is composing a series of policy papers outlining its recommendations for the summits:
- 2013 G8 Summit Recommendations: Lough Erne, United Kingdom
- 2013 G20 Summit Recommendations: St. Petersburg, Russia
- 2013 G8 Background Policy Brief: Anti-corruption and Transparency
- Establishing G8 Accountability: Still a Work in Progress
- 2013 G8 Background Policy Brief: Newborn, Child and Maternal Health
- 2013 G20 Background Policy Brief: Anti-corruption and Transparency
- 2013 G8 Policy Brief: Sexual Violence in War
See also a recent blog post addressing G8 accountability and development goals.
We will continue to update this webpage throughout the year as we receive and publish more information on development-related aspects of the G8 and G20 summits.
