ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES OF THE HIGHLY DEVELOPED INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES

The G7 or G-7 is a group consisting of the finance ministers of seven developed nations: the U.S., Japan, France, Germany, Italy, U.K. and Canada. They have been listed by the size of their national net wealth. They are the seven wealthiest developed nations on Earth by national net wealth as described in the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report October 2013 below cited. The G7 represents more than the 63% of the net global wealth ($241 trillions) according to Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report October 2013. The last meeting of the G7 took place in May 2013 in Aylesbury in the United Kingdom. Other meetings of the G7 are already planned. The G7 began in 1975 as the Group of Six, consisting of the countries France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, before Canada became the seventh member the following year. The organization was founded to facilitate shared initiatives by the members in response to the collapse of the exchange rate, the First Oil Crisis and the recession which followed from these events. Collectively, the G7 nations comprised 50.4% of global nominal GDP and 39.3% of global GDP (PPP). This group meets several times a year to discuss economic policies. Their work is supported by regular, functional meetings of officials, including the G7 finance disputes. The G7 met in Washington, D.C., twice in 2008 and in February 2009, in Rome, to discuss the global financial crisis of 2007-2010. The group of finance ministers has pledged to take "all necessary steps" to stem the crisis Although the G-7 members together constitute over half of the global GDP, critics contend that the group has lost its relevance since it does not include the world's largest emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India. The G-7 did expand in 1998 when Russia joined to make it the G-8.