China, India, Brazil, South Africa Invited To Dec G7
Finance ministers and central bankers from China, India, Brazil and South Africa have been invited to attend a meeting of their counterparts from the Group of Seven leading nations, to be held Dec. 2 and 3, the U.K. Treasury said Monday.
However, a spokeswoman for the Treasury said that it was awaiting each country's final response as to whether they would attend.
The so-called "outreach" countries have been present at each of the two previous meetings of G7 finance officials in London this year, in February and June.
Russia, which is a full member of the Group of Eight, normally attends the G7 meetings as well. The U.K. holds the presidency of the G7 and G8 for 2005. The other members of the group are the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy.
The presence of the outreach countries at G7 meetings this year has in part reflected the U.K. presidency's agenda for the meetings, which has focused heavily on development issues. It is also a clear reflection of their growing importance to the global economy, and the particular importance assigned by G7 members to China's foreign exchange policy in addressing global financial imbalances.
However Russia, which takes over the presidency of the G8 in 2006, has said it won't invite the four outreach countries to meetings next year.
The December meeting will also see a focus on economic regeneration in the Middle East, with finance ministers from Israel and the Palestinian Authority invited to attend.
The meeting will serve as an international farewell to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who retires in January.
(Published Morningstar, November 21, 2005)
__________________