2008-11-17
Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini has confirmed that the Italian summit will take place at La Maddalena from July 8 to 10, 2009. (October 8, 2009, ANSA News). Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has hinted that next year's G8 summit may not take place on the small island of La Maddalena as planned. Berlusconi said it is ''possible'' that Italy may change the venue of next year's G8 summit to a different place if the country finds it difficult to set up necessary facilities there, according to Italian reporters, who attended his news conference in Japan. Berlusconi, however, did not specify an alternative candidate site for the 35th summit at the news conference. This is the first time the Italian leader has floated the idea of changing the site of next year's G8 summit from La Maddalena.
They said there are rumors that the annual meeting may instead take place in the premier's luxurious villa ‘La Certosa’ in Sardinia, where Berlusconi hosted a meeting in April with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, who was president of the country at that time. In 2007, Italy officially announced that the next summit would be held on the tiny island off northern Sardinia, where the United States had a naval base until recently. The chair's summary of the Heiligendamm summit last year stated that the 34th summit would be held in Toyako, but this year's summary only said the next one would be held in Italy, without further specifying the location. (July 9, 2008, Kyodo News) Berlusconi confirmed that Italy intended to host the 2009 summit on the island of La Maddalena, off the northeast Sardinian coast, but said an alternative site existed if the reconversion of the ex-US Navy base there could not be completed in time. (July 9, 2008, ANSA-English Media Service)
Italy will host the G8's 2009 Summit from July 8 to 10. La Maddalena will serve as the summit site and so far it appears that the issues of world economy, climate change, energy, including nuclear energy, Africa, food security, intellectual property and the Heiligendamm process will all be a part of the Italians 2009 G8 agenda. The G5 countries of China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa will be invited to attend part of the summit, as will the additional MEM participants of Australia, Indonesia and South Korea.