| 6th G7 summit | |
|---|---|
San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice |
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| Host country | Italy |
| Dates | June 22–23, 1980 |
The 6th G7 Summit was held at Venice, Italy between June 22 and 23rd, 1980. The venue for the summit meetings was the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the Venetian lagoon.[1]
The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (since 1976)[2] and the President of the European Commission (starting officially in 1981).[3] The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's President Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the first Group of Six (G6) summit in 1975.[4]
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The G7 is an unofficial annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.[3] Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira suffered a fatal heart attack on June 12, only days before the summit; and his colleague, the Foreign Minister, led the delegation which represented Japan in his place. Others joining Foreign Minister Okita in Venice were Finance Minister Noboru Takeshita and the head of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.[5]
These summit participants are the current "core members" of the international forum:[6]
| Core G7 members Host nation and leader are indicated in bold text. |
|||
| Member | Represented by | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | Pierre Trudeau [1] | Prime Minister | |
| France | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing [1] | President | |
| West Germany | Helmut Schmidt [1] | Chancellor | |
| Italy | Francesco Cossiga [1] | Prime Minister | |
| Japan | Saburo Okita [1] | Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| United Kingdom | Margaret Thatcher [1] | Prime Minister | |
| United States | Jimmy Carter [1] | President | |
| European Commission | Roy Jenkins [7] | President | |
The summit was intended as a venue for resolving differences among its members. As a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions.[4]
| Preceded by 5th G7 summit |
6th G7 summit 1980 Italy |
Succeeded by 7th G7 summit |
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