The Raw Story – Chancellor Angela Merkel will use Germany’s presidency of the G8 club of industrial nations next year to push for hedge fund transparency, better trademark protection and moves to boost healthcare in Africa, officials say. Merkel hosts the G8’s main event in 2007: its annual summit on June 6-8 at the luxury Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm which is close to her Eastern German election district.
“Shaping globalization and helping Africa develop will be the key focuses of the summit,” says the German government.
G8 member states are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. The European Union also attends G8 meetings.
Set up in 1975 as an informal group in reaction to the early 1970s recession, the G8 has become a club where the world’s most powerful economies seek to coordinate policies.
