| 15th G7 summit | |
|---|---|
 The Grande Arche in La Défense at the outskirts of Paris | |
| Host country | France |
| Dates | 14–16 July 1989 |
| Venue(s) | Grande Arche |
| Cities | Paris |
| Follows | 14th G7 summit |
| Precedes | 16th G7 summit |
The 15th G7 Summit was held in the business district of La Défense to the west of Paris, France between 14 and 16 July 1989. The venue for the summit meetings was the Grande Arche[1] which was rushed to completion for celebrations marking the bicentennial of the French Revolution and for the world economic summit meeting that was held in the top of the Arche.[2] This event was also called the "Summit of the Arch."[3]
The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (since 1976),[4] and the President of the European Commission (starting officially in 1981).[5] The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the first Group of Six (G6) summit in 1975.[6]
- ^ Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): Summit Meetings in the Past.
- ^ "James, Barry. For the Grande Arche, Not-So-Grand Notices," New York Times. July 1, 1991.
- ^ Hajnal, Peter I. (1999). The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books
- ^ Saunders, Doug. "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," Archived 2008-10-11 at the Wayback Machine Globe and Mail (Toronto). July 5, 2008.
- ^ Reuters: "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?", July 3, 2008.
- ^ Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations, p. 205.