- Soviet Union - Russia
- Preserving the peace
- Dialogue with Africa and the newly industrialising countries
Dialogue with other states and with international organisations has a long tradition, the traditional themes discussed by the Group leading to varied discussions with different partners. The country holding the presidency is free to decide about the nature of and the arrangements for this "expanded dialogue".
Soviet Union - Russia
In 1991 British Prime Minister John Major invited Mikael Gorbachev, then President of the Soviet Union, to the G7 summit in London, whose theme that year was "Building World Partnership".
A concrete result of this dialogue was that the USA and the USSR overcame the last hurdles on the way to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
In the years that followed, Russia became increasingly involved in the political work of the G7, and in 1998, with Russia becoming a full member, the G7 became the G8.
Preserving the peace
In Kananaskis in 2002, the G8 committed itself to contributing up to 20 billion US dollars over the next 10 years to the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction. Seeking to expand this initiative beyond its own member states, the G8 under the French presidency then approached other countries.
This led to Finland, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland expressing their interest in joining the Global Partnership as donor members.
The Gleneagles summit in 2005 was able to welcome the success of this initiative.
By 2013 twenty billion US dollars will have been invested in the Action Plan.
Dialogue with Africa and the newly industrialising countries
In 2000 the Japanese presidency invited representatives of developing-countries to an outreach dialogue at the Okinawa summit.
Italy formalised the dialogue in 2001: the fight against poverty was discussed with the Heads of Government of South Africa, Mali, Nigeria and Bangladesh. The UN Secretary General, the President of the World Bank and the Directors-General of the World Trade Organisation and the World Food Organisation also took part.
In Kananaskis in 2002 the Heads of State of the founder members of NEPAD Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, participated in the summit, together with the UN Secretary General.
In 2003, President Chirac of France invited the NEPAD states (Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa), seven developing or newly industrialising countries (Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Malaysia, Morocco and China), Switzerland, and also four international organisations (UN, WTO, IWF, World Bank). On the agenda were development policy and improved North-South cooperation in the context of globalisation.
In St. Petersburg in 2006, as at Gleneagles in 2005, the Heads of State or Government of India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa took part in the discussions, as did representatives of China, the Organisation of African Unity and the CIS.