Have you ever heard of G-8 countries in the world?
29 Sep 2020Article also published in Medium.
I am pretty sure that many of us are very well aware of the G-7 countries in the world, but do you know that G-7 was earlier the G-8 group? To get an answer to this question you have landed on the right page :)
It was the time of the 1970s when the tension in the Arab countries was significantly rising. Israel has faced resistance in its progress since it declared itself an independent country in 1948, from the Arab states. By the time of 1973, the Arab states were engaged in war with Israel. This war was known as the Yom Kippur War as it was fought on October 6, 1973.
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It is also known as the Day of Atonement.
It was a retaliation by the Egyptians and Syrians who were hoping to win back their territory which was lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, in 1967. Despite their combined efforts, Israel managed to push them back.
This event in turn marked the inception of the 1973 oil crisis. In October 1973 the members of O.P.E.C which stands for Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. Embargo in simple words means a trade ban. This embargo was targeted at the nations who were perceived as supporters of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This led to a world economic crisis in 1973.
Jerusalem, Israel’s Capital (Source: Unsplash)
O.P.E.C was formed at the Baghdad Conference in September 1960. The founding countries were: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
This event fueled the concept of the existence of a forum that would compromise of world’s most industrialized countries, which is today known as G-7 countries.
The major purpose of the G-7 countries today is to stabilize and resolve global issues, with a special focus on economic ones.
Hence in the year, 1975 nations like France, Italy, Japan, UK, Germany, and the United States formed the group of six known as G-6 nations. Canada joined the following year forming G-7.
Moscow, Russia’s Capital (Source: Lonely Planet)
In the year 1991, USSR split into various countries with the largest of them being Russia. In 1998, Russia was officially included in the G-7 group, forming the G-8 nations.
Crimea (Source: Russia Briefing)
Crimea was a part of Ukraine. The ethnic composition of Crimea comprised of more than 50% Russians. In a nutshell, by the year 2014, Crimea demanded a union with Russia. This resulted in protests in the southern part of Ukraine. It is told that Russia helped Crimea to break from Ukraine. In other words, Russia was blamed on the grounds of annexing Crimea from Ukraine. On March 16, 2014, a referendum took place in Crimea with more than 90% of people in favor of joining Russia. Though this referendum was controversial and was not recognized by many countries.
Hence the other countries suspended Russia’s membership from the G-8 group in 2014.
The current members of the G-7 group are Canada, France, Japan Italy, Germany, UK, and the US. Lastly, there is no headquarter of G-7 countries or a particular nation leading the G-7 group!