Welcome to the G8 Blog of World Economy & Development and Heinrich Böll Foundation

By Rainer Falk and Barbara Unmüßig

Preparations for the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, from 6-8 June 2007, are well underway—on both sides of the fence. The German government has been building it so that, as in the past years, the conference can be held far from the madding crowd. While there has been scarcity of substance in the debate “outside”, the “inside” also failed to set the course, so no groundbreaking development and environmental policy signals – or at least indications that past promises will be kept - should be expected from this summit.

This blog is intended to contribute to the substantive debate in the final sprint to the summit. We will present briefs and summaries of the preparatory meetings as well as commentary on current events, regularly and the closer the summit becomes—more frequently. We will report about the official meetings of G7 and G8 ministers as well as the numerous civil society events. We want to bring more light and transparency into the preparation for a summit meting which for more than 30 years has strived as an exclusive club of the influential to determine the course of world development. We want to provoke discussion about reform and alternatives.

We deliberately chose the blog medium since it is especially suited to links and networks and permits spontaneous interventions and commentaries. “Blogging G8” is written primarily by Rainer Falk. However, numerous guest commentaries are to be included. Add our blog (www.blogging-g8.blogspot.com) address to your favourites, use our RSS feed or simply check-out our pages regularly. We warmly invite everyone interested to actively participate in our blog.

Happy blogging!