G8

2005 may see the end of the G8. This month's report by the international panel on UN reform questions whether the G8 should continue (see 'Security' below).

"The framers of the Charter of the United Nations understood that peace and security were inseparable from economic development. The institutional problem we face [is that] decision -making on international economic matters, particularly in the areas of finance and trade, has long left the United Nations and no amount of institutional reform will bring it back."

"While the annual meetings of the G8 group at head of State or Government level fulfil some of the characteristics required to give greater coherence and impetus to the necessary policies, it would be helpful to have a larger forum bringing together the heads of the major developed and developing countries. One way of moving forward may be to transform into a leader’s group the G20 group of finance ministers, which currently brings together States collectively encompassing 80 per cent of the world’s population and 90 per cent of its economic activity, with regular attendance by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, WTO and the European Union." http://www.un.org/secureworld/report.pdf