Contradictory Aims at the G-8 Summit

Summit Meets, World Yawns, Contentions, July 6, 2009. "This week, on July 8-10, Italy will host the G8 Summit in L’Aquila. Italian planning for the Summit has emphasized what it asserts is the need to make the G8 “more representative and more efficient” by involving China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and Egypt, and to “to bring the institutions closer to people by focusing on their real problems, with the financial and economic crisis toping the list” by developing a “new global governance” structure. Italy has also stated that it plans to “[step] up the drive for consensus ahead of the UN conference on the climate in Copenhagen,” to promote “dialogues between producers and consumers [of energy] with the objective of reaching a stable prize [sic, for price] scheme,” and to oppose “food protectionism.” These goals are all delightfully contradictory."