The world’s major democracies will hold their 50th summit from Thursday, a milestone for the framework that started as an economic forum but has since become a playmaker in global politics, now comprising seven countries including Japan and the United States .
The major countries within this framework share common values and have discussed responses to political issues rocking the international community, affirming their unity. The upcoming three-day summit will bring together the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries plus the European Union in the southern Italian region of Apulia.
The opening summit was held in 1975 in the Parisian suburb of Rambouillet, at the proposal of then French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, for coordination of monetary and trade policies after the 1973 oil crisis. It was attended by the six countries Japan, the US, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and the former West Germany, now Germany. The framework welcomed its seventh member, Canada, in 1976, making itself the G7.
