The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal intergovernmental political and economic forum of advanced democracies. It consists of seven major industrialized nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union (EU) is also a "non-enumerated" member and is represented at all meetings.
The G7 originated from an ad hoc gathering of finance ministers in 1973. The first summit of heads of state and government, then known as the G6, was held in 1975 at Rambouillet, France. The group was created in response to pressing global economic concerns, particularly the oil crisis and recession sparked by the OPEC oil embargo in the 1970s. Canada joined in 1976, establishing the G7.
The G7 is not a formal international organization; it has no formal charter, permanent secretariat, or administrative structures. Its mechanism relies on an annual rotating presidency among member states, which is responsible for setting the agenda and hosting the annual summit. High-ranking government officials, known as sherpas, prepare the groundwork for the leaders' meetings. Decisions are typically taken by consensus and formalized in a joint communiqué at the conclusion of the annual summit. While it initially focused on global economic issues, its agenda has broadened to cover foreign and security policy, trade, climate, and development.
The G7 is closely connected to the Group of Twenty (G20), which was convened in 1999 to include major emerging and developing economies like India. A significant change occurred when the group temporarily became the G8 with the inclusion of Russia in 1998. However, it returned to the G7 format in 2014 after Russia's membership was indefinitely suspended due to its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. This decision underscored the G7's shared values of democracy and international law.