Short Notes on Multilateral Forums for Degree Students

The Group of Eight (G8)

The Group of Eight (G8) refers to the group of eight highly industrialized nations--France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Canada, and Russia--that hold an annual meeting to foster consensus on global issues like economic growth and crisis management, global security, energy, and terrorism. The forum enables presidents and prime ministers, as well as their finance and foreign ministers, to candidly discuss pressing international issues. Its small and static membership, however, excludes emerging powers from key talks concerning the global economy and international security, and as an informal grouping, states have little leverage over other members with which to secure compliance on agreements beyond imposing reputational costs.

           There are no formal criteria for membership, member states are expected to be democracies and have highly developed economies. The G8, unlike the United Nations, is not a formal institution, and there is no charter or secretariat. The presidency, a position responsible for planning ministerial meetings and the annual summit, rotates among the member states.

The Group of 15

The G15, a group of 17 developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America, was set up to foster cooperation and provide input for other international groups, such as the World Trade Organization and the Group of Seven rich industrialized nations.

The G15 is comprised of Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe

The Group of Fifteen (G-15) was established at a Summit Level Group of Developing Countries in September 1989, following the conclusion of the Ninth Non-Aligned Summit Meeting in Belgrade. The Group was originally founded by 15 developing countries. While there are now 17 member countries, the original name of the Group has been retained.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 

1.To harness the considerable potential for greater and mutually beneficial cooperation among developing countries.

2.To conduct a regular review of the impact of the world situation and of the state of international economic relations on developing countries.

3.To serve as a forum for regular consultations among developing countries with a view to coordinating policies and actions.

4.To identify and implement new and concrete schemes for South-South cooperation and mobilize wider support for them.

5.To pursue a more positive and productive North-South dialogue and to find new ways of dealing with problems in a cooperative, constructive and mutually supportive manner.

G20

The G20 was formally established in September 1999 The G20 was created in 1999 in response to the financial crises in the late 1990s, the growing influence of emerging market economies on the global economy, and their disproportionately modest participation in the decision-making process. G20 Leaders met for the first time in 2008 in Washington, D.C. And at that time the G20 was to play a pivotal role in responding to the global economic and financial crisis. The main objective of upgrading the level of consultations within the G20 was to cope with then current and set a framework for preventing future financial crises, while securing sustainable and balanced global growth and reforming the architecture of global governance.

The G20 brings together finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America plus the European Union.

The objectives of the G20 refer to:

1. Policy coordination between its members in order to achieve global economic stability, sustainable growth;
2. Promoting financial regulations that reduce risks and prevent future financial crises;
3. Modernizing international financial architecture.

BRIC Countries

The BRIC countries label refers to a select group of four large, developing countries (Brazil , Russia, India  and China ). The four BRIC countries are distinguished from a host of other promising emerging markets by their demographic and economic potential to rank among the world’s largest and most influential economies in the 21st century (and by having a reasonable chance of realizing that potential).  Together, the four original BRIC countries comprise more than 2.8 billion people or 40 percent of the world’s population, cover more than a quarter of the world’s land area over three continents, and account for more than 25 percent of global GDP.

Brief introduction to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Silence has long been confused with neutrality, and has been presented as a necessary condition for humanitarian action. From its beginning, MSF was created in opposition to this assumption. We are not sure that words can always save lives, but we know that silence can certainly kill.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation creation of which was proclaimed on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Its prototype is the Shanghai Five mechanism.

The main goals of the SCO are strengthening mutual confidence and good-neighbourly relations among the member countries; promoting effective cooperation in politics, trade and economy, science and technology, culture as well as education, energy, transportation, tourism, environmental protection and other fields; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region, moving towards the establishment of a new, democratic, just and rational political and economic international order.