Group of Seven (G7)

The Group of Seven is an informal intergovernmental political and economic forum of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the European Union participating as a non-enumerated member. It evolved from the 'Library Group,' an informal finance-ministry gathering established March 25, 1973 in the wake of the early-1970s oil shocks and the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed-exchange-rate system, becoming the Group of Six at its first leaders' summit on November 15, 1975 and expanding to seven with Canada's addition in 1976. Organized around shared commitments to pluralism, liberal democracy and representative government, the G7 has no founding treaty and no permanent secretariat or office; it operates instead through an annually rotating presidency, the host nation running that year's summit and coordinating discussion of trade, security, economic policy and, more recently, climate change among the member governments.