World Economic Summit
The world's leading economic and political powers have joined forces in a cooperative forum known as the Group of 8, or G8 (comprised of the original G7 - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada, plus the addition of the Russian Federation in 1997). By establishing the G8 process, these countries are facing up to their responsibility to deal with key global issues and actively contributing to the identification of constructive solutions. Once a year, the members of the G8 convene for a summit, which is chaired by a rotating Presidency.
In the G8 process, the Personal Representatives of the heads of state and government are tasked with preparing and following up on the substantive policy issues addressed at the summits. These representatives are known as "Sherpas", a Nepalese term for the native mountain guides who help climbers scale the mountain summits in the Himalayas. From 2004-2009, the person who performed this function for Germany's Chancellor was Dr. Bernd Pfaffenbach, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. In recent years, and particularly in the aftermath of the global financial and economic crisis, the larger G20 forum has increasingly gained in importance. As a result, in late 2009 the functions of Germany's Sherpas for both the G8 and G20 process were placed in the hands of one person: Dr. Jens Weidmann, head of the department for economic and fiscal policy at the Federal Chancellery.
The Sherpas are central actors in the G8 and G20 process. Several times each year, the country holding the G8 Presidency invites the Sherpas to working meetings to prepare the summits and conduct follow-up activities. The Sherpas also delegate work on specific financial or foreign policy issues to "Sous-Sherpas" for finance or foreign affairs as well as to G8 Political Directors.
Italy held the G8 Presidency in 2009, and the summit was held in the city of L'Aquila, located in a region that was devastated by a severe earthquake in April 2009.
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