Who calls the big international meetings such as G20, G8, etc.?

Asked by Jeruba (55832

) December 2nd, 2018

Who decides on these top-level meetings? Who picks the date and place and determines the guest list—20 and not 19 or 21, 8 and not 10, and so on?

Who sets the agenda?

Do the principals have to buy in from the first, or is it all done by diplomatic aides, or by some designated international committee?

Are they more frequent than they used to be? Maybe I’m just paying more attention, but they’ve seemed to proliferate like awards ceremonies.

Are there any such meetings for second-tier nations—G21–40, let’s say?

Observing members: 0

Composing members: 0

1 Answer

It is usually decided at the meeting who will host the next meeting and when. The US hosted the first one, the next one is scheduled for Japan next summer. It has been one per year.

Same with the G-8, which used to be the G-7 until Russia was invited. The countries decide if another nation will be added.

There are other meetings, which are more regional, such as ASEAN and OECD.

The foreign ministries of each country generally have a whole dedicated under secretariat that handles the meetings, agendas schedules, and preliminary talks, and draft the coordinated message at the end.

zenvelo (39430

)“Great Answer” (11

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