The G8 summit that eight world leaders are attending this weekend in Russia is often billed as a gathering of the world's leading economic powers, a title out of touch with global reality.

Consider for example that China, now the world's fourth-largest economy, is not a member.

Neither is India, one of its fastest-growing economies. Nor is South Korea, Brazil, Mexico or Spain, each with a larger economy than G8 member Russia. In fact, Spain recently inched past member Canada as the world's No 8 economy, according to a World Bank tabulation.

Often officials from developing nations are invited as observers to the summit but have no formal roles. Critics view the annual economic summit as a Cold War relic that needs to be reconstituted. It was formed in the 1970s, but economic dynamics are far different three decades later. The astonishing growth of some Asian nations and parts of Latin America have altered the maths.

Yet expanding or changing the membership is not on this year's agenda, nor is it likely to be on next year's. Few officials from member nations seem eager to talk about the subject.

Igor Shuvalov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's top summit adviser, acknowledges that Russia lags behind the other seven members in terms of current economic output. But stay tuned, he says.

"We believe the importance of Russia in our global world will change. We have very talented people and well-educated labour force. We have oil and gas," said Shuvalov in a telephone interview with US reporters. "We will develop very quickly as one of the major G8 countries."

Even now, Russia is economically "stronger than some G8 members," Shuvalov asserted without offering an example. "I don't want to name those countries," he said.

What is now known as the G8 was formed in 1975 as the Group of Major Industrialized Democracies. At the time, it consisted of the United States, Japan, Britain, France and Germany undisputedly the world's five biggest economic powers at the time. Italy was added in 1976, Canada in 1977 and Russia in 1998.

The group holds annual summits. Economic themes are supposed to prevail, but often are overshadowed by events of the day and global politics.

Last year's summit in Scotland was jolted by multiple terrorist bomb blasts on London's transit system. This year's session probably will dwell on nuclear disputes involving Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Robert Hormats, vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs International and an expert on economic summitry, advocates expanding the G8 to include other modern economic powers, especially China.

"When this group was formed in the 1970s, the members were the main influences on the globe. Now you've got a lot of other countries that have a lot more influence than they did 30 years ago and who are not in the process," said Hormats, who helped Presidents Carter, Ford and Reagan prepare for economic summits.

This year's summit is in Putin's hometown, St. Petersburg. It is Russia's first time to hold the rotating G8 presidency.

Johannes Linn and Colin Bradford, both former World Bank officials now with research and policy organization the Brookings Institution, have proposed expanding the group to 19 to 20 members.

They would add Australia, Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.

They also would add the country of the rotating presidency of the European Union if it was not already a member.

"The problem in a sense for the G8 is that it has set itself up as a quasi-steering group for the world, but it cannot effectively and cannot legitimately deal with many of the key issues," Linn said.

And it will only get worse. "Five years from now, I cannot possibly see how a G8 would still be relevant," he said.

But will the G8 transform itself anytime soon? "Probably not," he said.

Source: China Daily