Group of Eight Summit

At this week's summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Sea Island, Ga., President Bush and other foreign leaders are discussing Mideast democracy, nuclear weapon proliferation, poverty and other economic and social issues.

Patrick M. Cronin, senior vice president and director of studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, discussed the G-8 summit.

The transcript follows

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: I am delighted to be live, online to discuss the G-8 meeting at Sea Island, Georgia.

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Virginia: How was the G-8 formed and is there any desire to bring in new members?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: The Group of 7 key industrial countries began in the early 1970s, chiefly in response to the "oil shock" and the collapse of the post-World War mechanisms for stabilizing monetary policies and thereby prevent a repeat of the Great Depression. Annual meetings rotated among the members, with leaders focusing primarily on key economic issues. Over time, the economic agenda was at times overshadowed by larger political and even security issues. For instance, the G-7/8 has produced nearly three dozen statements or agreements over the years pertainining to counter-terrorism. The "8" derives from the addition of Russia in order to find institutional support for the transition economy that was the former Soviet power.

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Anonymous: Dr. Cronin:
I am wondering what your thoughts are to South African President Mbeki's editorial today. Do you believe, as he does, that the leaders of the G-8 see Africa as a continent of "mendicants?"

washingtonpost.com: Building a Better Africa (Post, June 10)

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: President Mbeki's main message is one that we should all be able to embrace: namely, any country and its citizens must take the leading role in its development. In the economic development world, we often refer to this by the buzzword of "local ownership." The New Economic Partnership for African Development represents one of the most recent attempts by African leaders to acknowledge their mutual responsibility for policies that promote good governance--including basic freedoms, a commitment to anticorruption, and a willingness to invest in their people's health and education. Unfortunately, effective enforcement and impelementation of their commitments are often found insufficient, and the tepic regional response to abuses in Zimbabwe illustrate this point. Meanwhile, the developed countries share a major responsibility and interest in eradicating poverting and assisting economic growth. "Leveling the playing field" by granting greater market access for developing world countries' agricultural goods is a major issue in the incomplete Doha Round on trade. Similarly, the United Nations conference on financing development in 2002 aimed to highlight the need to provide effective development assistance--for instance, something the U.S. has responded to with large increases in aid to fight AIDS and to promote economic development through a "Millennium Challenge Account."

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Washington, D.C.: Seriously, why is Russia part of the G8? I thought it was supposed to be composed of the leading industrial countries, and one often sees the G7/G8 described as a group of wealthy countries. Russia simply does not fit this bill. It doesn't even share the same values as the other countries.

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: Russia's participation complicates the initial purpose of the G-7--viz., to focus on economic growth. Russia's economic issues center mostly on oil and debt. To repeat, the invitation to Russia was a way to link post-Soviet Russia to Europe and the "West," to encourage its political and economic transformation, and out of recognition of its power. Many argue that even the G-7 are inadequate to talk about the global economy: where is China? where is India? Hence, recent G-8 meetings have included various other leaders representing their countries, either as part of a G-20 (comprising 10 industrial and 10 developing countries) or other countries from the developing world (as with Middle East countries this year to emphasize reform and development in the broader Middle East).

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Rockville, Md.: Why don't France and Germany want to forgive the debt?

Doesn't France feel guilty about asking 'New Iraq' to pay debts on the blood money Saddam spent?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: Debt relief and oil production are both crucial to the question of Iraq's economy in the coming years. Special Envoy James Baker did a masterful job in building a broad consensus among these and other countries with respect to debt forgiveness. The agreement, however, has been limited to forgiving "the vast majority" of the debt--a finesse that could mean 2/3s or 95 percent. It should be no surprise that countries such as Russia and France are hesitant to write off all of their considerable debts to a future Iraq rich with oil.

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Ballston, Va.: Are the G-8 summits entirely extra-legal? There's no treaty requiring them to be held, is there? And nothing that gets done at one of these summits is ever legally binding on the nations involved, is it?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: The G-8 summits actually are year-long exercises in which political and economic sous-sherpas (for the U.S., usually, an Undersecretary of State and an Undersecretary of Treasury, respectively) support a leading negotiator (the sherpa) from each country. They hammer out an agenda over many meetings, with each government often pushing its latest initiatives or even ongoing ideas. G-8 meetings also have to take account of inhereited agendas, and hence issues surrounding development in Africa (prominent on the Canadian agenda in 2002)carried over into France last year and into the U.S. this year. But, even statements or agreements promulgated by the leaders are "executive agreements" at best.

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Alexandria, Va.: Can you point to some concrete actions that have come out of summits such as this? I simply do not understand what meetings such as this weeks actually achieve. All I hear about are vague proclamations and unenforceable initiatives.

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: U.S.-Soviet summit meetings during the Cold War signalled a willigness to pursue detente, with a special focus on codifying controls and limits over nuclear weapons. G-7/8 summits similarly provide a platform for these important leaders to shape the international economic agenda and then some. When these leaders make pronouncements in tandem, they are indicating that some of the world's richest and most powerful leaders are standing together on one or more critical issues. Having seen the U.S. somewhat isolated in the past 18 months over the Iraq conflict, this kind of unity can be helpful. But the devil is in real implementation and follow-through. The G-8 is not designed to implement agreements--that's the job of the bureaucracy beneath them. But leaders can underscore the importance of issues and their personal commitment to working together, and they can revisit the issues next year.

The fact that the leaders indicated agreement on the importance of peace in the Middle East, even while trying to find ways to help a number of countries throughout this region

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Anonymous: Mbeki's article also mentions that a host of African leaders have been invited to the summit for the past few years. Is this a special arrangement, or do many leaders outside of the G-8 get invited? What purpose are these invitations supposed to serve?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: The host country of each G-8 meeting leads the negotiations to shape the agenda, some of which can be devoted to reaching out beyond the G-8 leaders. The final shape of these programs, of course, require a consensus but not unanimity. The purpose is to show that the rich countries are hoping to work together ("in partnership" is the now mantra)with other countries, whether from Africa (to dramatize issues about poverty and disease or trade)or from the Middle East (to highlight the common call for reform).

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Arlington, Va.: Has there been any serious consideration toward inviting China to these meetings?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: Yes, France invited China last year when it hosted the G-8. After 20 years of nearly double digit economic growth, China is too big an economic power to be excluded from a serious international economic agenda. China's recent but continuing emergence as an economic power will have to be accommodated, either by working more with the G-20 or other fora.

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Arlington, Va.: The Reagan Memorial has all but overshadowed the summit. What are those of us who have not done any detailed reading on the meeting missing?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: President Reagan's memorial has overshadowed Iraq and the summit, but perhaps some of that will come together when leaders visit Washington tomorrow. What has been "missed" might be boiled down to this: the Bush Administration has held a relatively successful top-level meeting among some leaders with which its has sparred sharply in the past two years. This may be setting the bar low, but keeping the international coalition together around helping a sovereign Iraq and peace and reform in the Middle East surely is a useful contribution. We have three elections coming up in the next 6 months: in Afghanistan, the United States and Iraq. If we can keep this kind of international consensus together until then, that would provide a good foundation on which to advance effective and concerted economic and security policies.

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Alexandria, Va.: How important is Iraqi President Ghazi Yawer's attendance - specifically as it relates to the initiative for political reform in the Middle East?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: I think it is important first and foremost to put a face to this renewed if tenuous international consensus on supporting a sovereign Iraq. The real value of a post-Saddam government in Iraq will take hold in the future. First we have to thwart the attempt by some to create a failed state in Iraq--by which I mean a state that lacks the ability to provide security, lacks legitimacy, and lacks the capacity to provide basic services. If we can move forward the next 6 months toward elections in 2005, and then that transitional government can make progress by 2006, the ultimate reform value could be tremendous. But that future remains threatened on a variety of counts, and hence most regional leaders are likely to tread cautiously during this period.

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Silver Spring, Md.: This may seem like a fluffy question, but why the casual atmosphere? It seems oddly jarring to see world leaders walking on a beach without ties. What is the point?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: Security and symbolism are the chief reasons. Sea Island is a resort; the previous pair of summits were held in mountain retreats--first in response to the rise of antiglobalization protestors and then out of fear of terrorism. But there is also the added benefit of showing leaders that appear not just to agree in formal meetings but actually cooperating because they like each other. Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, e.g., quickly struck a positive chord with President Bush in 2001 by talking about "Gary Cooper." The informality shows that our leaders are human beings, too.

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Anonymous: Have there been any protests? I would expect some but have not heard of any.

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: Yes, but protestors have been kept at a distance in recent summits. The geographic location of recent summits has been largely derivative of this desire to create an environment such as the one might find at Camp David--removed from public.

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New York, N.Y.: How is the summit being covered outside of the US? Do other nations see it as "club" of sorts, or a decisive body?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: The global economy and international security are too complex to be managed by an annual meeting of 8 leaders. So, no, I would not say this is perceived as a "club." Various national papers in Europe, for instance, have highlighted themes that preceded the meetings--such as the U.S. pressure on France to accept NATO troop deployments to Iraq and the French refusal to go along. But I think these are relatively minor contretemps and should not detract from global coverage about the relative success and consensus at this meeting.

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Washington, D.C.: What exactly is the situation with the global aviation security plan created yesterday, in particular the U.S.'s agreement to share traveler data with other G-8 nations? Will this invite breach of privacy?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: Post 9/11 policies have created a trenchant need to ensure the protection of civil liberties even while implementing effective measures to fight terrorism. Many new policies could have unintended consequences with respect to privacy; the good news is that many groups, including Congress, help provide oversight.

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Strasbourg, France: Let me preface by indicating that I am a "patriotic" American recently transferred to France and enjoying the experience.

What is so paradoxical and confusing to me is the debt relief issue is acceptable for Iraq, but not other countries. While in Paul Blustein and Mike Allen piece yesterday, "U.S. Considers Forgiving Poor Nations' Debts" hints at the USA backing Blair's big initiative, the subplot is that it really won't. A bit of political double-speak? If it is just tantalizing spin to me it again makes USA appear only interested in oil resources and not human resources when placed in the larger context of what the military was ordered to protect and what was allowed to be looted.

How does this "now you see it now you don't" policy advance democracy in the Middle East?

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: Debt relief is a critical issue for dealing with the developing world, especially fragile and recovering states. Clearly it is a critical economic need for Iraq, and Iraq is a front-burner issue. But you are absolutely correct to point to something of a double standard, and many are discussing how to make policies more "coherent.
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Los Angeles, Calif.: Dr. Cronin:

Regarding the proposal to engage NATO in Iraq, did Ghazi al-Yawar have anything to say? What form do you think this involvement might take? Given our failure so far to get other European allies involved, I'm surprised that it was even proposed. Thanks.

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin: I believe he repeated what he has said to others recently: that is, in effect, Iraqis have an enormous opportunity to embrace freedoms and this is first and foremost the job of Iraqis. Please give us your support to help succeed. Continental Europeans are still cool to something like NATO troop deployments, but they did signal at this meeting a common objective of helping sovereign Iraq. If Iraq's interim government can create a transitional government based on elections next year, then look for that European support to grow further.

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