Japan PM announces date for G8 summit in 2008

TOKYO, May 19 (RIA Novosti) – A summit of the Group of Eight Industrialized Nations (G8) in 2008 will be held on the northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido on July 7-9, Japan’s prime minister said Saturday.
Japan’s Cabinet of Ministers earlier decided to host the summit in the spring resort of Toyako on Hokkaido Island, mainly due to its favorable conditions to provide security for the high-level participants of the meeting.
“I have become convinced that this location [city of Toyako] is suitable to discuss climate change isues that will top the discussion agenda next year,” Shinzo Abe told a news conference after his visit to the resort.
The G8 Group is an international forum for the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. Each year, the G8 member countries take turns to assume the presidency of the group. The presidency holder formulates the group’s annual agenda and hosts the summit for that year.
The G8 summit in 2008 is expected to discuss measures to limit carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere beyond 2012 when the Kyoto protocol on climate change expires.
In 2007, the G8 summit will take place in Heiligendamm, Germany, on June 7. The previous summit took place in July 2006 in St. Petersburg as Russia held last year’s rotating presidency in the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

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