9th G7 summit

File:Photograph of the G-7 Economic Summit in Williamsburg, Virginia (left to right) Pierre Trudeau, Gaston Thorn, Helmut... - NARA - 198538.jpg building. (Left to right): Pierre Trudeau, Gaston Thorn, Helmut Kohl, François Mitterrand, Ronald Reagan, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Margaret Thatcher, and Amintore Fanfani]]

The G7 is an unofficial annual forum for the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This was the first summit where none of the original participants from 1975 were still in office.

The 9th G7 summit was the first summit for German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

These summit participants are the current "core members" of the international forum:{{cite web|url=http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2009/0327_global_governance_rieffel.aspx |title=Regional Voices in Global Governance: Looking to 2010 |author=Lex Rieffel |date=March 27, 2009 |work=The Brookings Institution |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603074840/http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2009/0327_global_governance_rieffel.aspx |archive-date=June 3, 2010 }}{{cite web|url=http://g8.gc.ca/about/member-states/ |title=Regional Voices in Global Governance: Looking to 2010 - Brookings Institution |access-date=May 29, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603074840/http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2009/0327_global_governance_rieffel.aspx |archive-date=June 3, 2010 }}MOFA: [http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/summit/2000/past_summit/table_e/index.html Summit (9)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323151148/http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/summit/2000/past_summit/table_e/index.html |date=March 23, 2011 }}; European Union: [http://www.deljpn.ec.europa.eu/union/showpage_en_union.external.g8.php "EU and the G8"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226165606/http://www.deljpn.ec.europa.eu/union/showpage_en_union.external.g8.php |date=February 26, 2007 }}

File:G7 Summit in Williamsburg, VA (1983).jpg and his advisers at Williamsburg]]

The summit was intended as a venue for resolving differences among its members. As a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions.

Meetings of the G7 focus on issues related to the economy and multinational efforts to connect these issues. However, talks led by President Reagan at this G7 Summit also concentrated on tensions with the Soviet Union and the need for missile deployment in Europe to encourage the Soviet Union to return to arms control talks in Geneva. A bilateral discussion was held between Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher prior to the G-7 meeting. Thatcher stressed the need to reaffirm the NATO double-track decision of 1979 approach to talks with the Soviets. Thatcher and Reagan agreed that it would be helpful to have G-7 reaffirm the decision. However, President François Mitterrand and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau were hesitant to agree. The first meeting of the leaders was head of state only. At the coffee hour Reagan appeared concerned that it would not be possible to get full agreement. Following the coffee break the first meeting of the Summit, Reagan forged an agreement with the strong support of Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone of Japan, Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany and Thatcher. The need to deploy the Pershing II missiles was reached and reaffirmed. This decision showed the unity of Western leaders as they forged ahead to seek meaningful arms control agreements with the Soviet Union and it was a critical step in the arms control agreements reached between Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and Reagan two years later at the Geneva Summit, the first meeting between these two leaders.

In addition to the reinforcement of the double-track decision on arms control, the leaders were confronted with a stubborn world economy, double digit inflation, high interest rates and high unemployment. These economic conditions were stimulated, in part, due to higher oil prices in the early 1980s caused by the Iranian Revolution. The G-7 summit a year earlier had been held in Versailles, hosted by Mitterrand. Reagan felt that it was important to stress the importance of free markets and free trade and transparency in international dealings. After two days of debate, the leaders agreed to the Williamsburg Declaration,{{cite web|url=http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/summit/1983williamsburg/communique.html|title=UTLink. G7 Economic Summit, Williamsburg, VA., 1983|work=utoronto.ca|access-date=August 19, 2013|archive-date=October 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021200102/http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/summit/1983williamsburg/communique.html|url-status=live}} which stands as quite unique in terms of G-7 communiques as it was a short ten point declaration and it was read in its entirety by Reagan seated before the other leaders The significance of the Declaration cannot be over-emphasized as it was the free market principles agreed to by the leaders at the summit that provided an international environment of free trade and investment that propelled the world economies out of economic recession toward durable economic growth of twenty years. The declaration was prepared by a small team of NSC advisers close to Reagan.{{cite web|first=William Flynn|last=Martin|author-link=William Flynn Martin|title=NSC Director of International Economic Affairs|url=http://www.wpainc.com/Archive/Reagan%20Administration/Letters%20from%20the%20Reagans/Letter%20from%20Ronald%20Reagan%206-9-86.pdf|website=wpainc.com|access-date=August 19, 2013|archive-date=October 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021195046/http://www.wpainc.com/Archive/Reagan%20Administration/Letters%20from%20the%20Reagans/Letter%20from%20Ronald%20Reagan%206-9-86.pdf|url-status=dead}}

The Williamsburg Economic Summit was the only international meeting chaired by Reagan.

File:Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau 1975 (UPI press photo) (cropped).jpg|{{flagicon|Canada}} Canada
Pierre Trudeau,
Prime Minister

File:President François Mitterrand in 1983.jpg|{{flagicon|France|1974}} France
François Mitterrand,
President

File:Helmut Kohl (1996) cropped.jpg|{{flagicon|Germany}} Germany
Helmut Kohl,
Chancellor

File:Amintore Fanfani 1983-04-14.jpg|{{flagicon|Italy}} Italy
Amintore Fanfani,
Prime Minister

File:Yasuhiro Nakasone 19821127.jpg|{{flagicon|Japan|1947}} Japan
Yasuhiro Nakasone,
Prime Minister

File:Margaret Thatcher (1983).jpg|{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom
Margaret Thatcher,
Prime Minister

File:Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981-cropped.jpg|{{flagicon|United States}} United States
Ronald Reagan,
President (Host)

File:Gaston Thorn (1984).jpg|{{flagicon|European Union}} European Commission
Gaston Thorn,
President

• G8

{{reflist|2}}

• Bayne, Nicholas and Robert D. Putnam. (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=BqkEAQAAIAAJ&q=G7+summit Hanging in There: The G7 and G8 Summit in Maturity and Renewal.] Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-7546-1185-1}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/43186692 OCLC 43186692]
• Reinalda, Bob and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Bt3AzOHtXwgC Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations.] London: Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-16486-3}}; {{ISBN|0-203-45085-X}}; {{OCLC|39013643}}

{{Commons category}}

• No official website is created for any G7 summit prior to 1995-- see the 21st G7 summit.
• University of Toronto: G8 Research Group, [http://www.g8.utoronto.ca G8 Information Centre]
• [http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/summit/1983williamsburg/index.html G7 1983, delegations & documents]

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