What is the Group of Eight?

The Group of Eight brings together eight of the world's richest and most powerful countries: the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada.

The G8 is not an international organisation like the United Nations or European Union – it has no permanent secretariat or staff.

Instead, it brings together heads of the world's strongest economies at an annual summit for informal discussions of the most pressing global issues with a view to increasing international cooperation. However, none of the agreements reached are binding on individual countries.

The presidency of the G8 rotates between the member states. Italy holds the presidency for 2009, and is therefore responsible for hosting this year's summit, which will be held from July 8-10 in L'Aquila, a mountain city in central Italy which was devastated by an earthquake in early April.