Canada Invites More Nations to G7 Summit

Canada will invite the leaders of a dozen additional countries to the Group of Seven summit in Charlevoix, Que., this month, as well as four international organizations, CBC News reported. Canada holds the G7 presidency for 2018 and will host the summit in Charlevoix June 8-9. Core members of the G7 are: Canada, France, US, UK, Germany, Japan and Italy. It’s become a tradition at G7 summits to invite countries beyond the core membership of the group. It allows the core members to expand their discussions beyond their own group of wealthy nations. Often the invitees come from developing countries, though this year’s crop of “outreach countries” includes one notable exception to that rule. Can (Canadian Finance Minister Bill) Morneau keep his G7 gathering from being entirely about (US President Donald) Trump? It’s an unusually large group this year, twice the number that attended the G7 summit in Taormina, Sicily, last year. The invitees are: Argentina, Bangladesh, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Norway, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa and Vietnam.