Preparations for this year’s G8 Business Summit are well underway. The summit process, launched two years ago as a way for leading industry groups to provide input to the annual summits of G8 leaders, has taken on added urgency with the onset of the global economic crisis. Business federation heads met in extraordinary session in Paris last December to craft a response to the G20 meeting in Washington and help chart a way forward.
Timothy E. Deal, USCIB’s senior vice president for Washington, attended a February 24 preparatory meeting in Rome aimed at reviewing an initial draft of a joint declaration to be issued at the G8 Business Summit in Sardinia, Italy on April 23 and 24.
The declaration will address the following issues:
- the impact of the economic and financial crisis
- protectionism and freedom of investment
- climate change: the road to Copenhagen.
G8 business leaders will address these topics in a public session on the second day of the summit, following an informal “brainstorming” session on the opening day. The summit will conclude with a gala dinner hosted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. USCIB Chairman William G. Parrett will head the USCIB delegation in Sardinia and will be joined by leaders of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable.
Staff contact: Rob Mulligan
