G-8 wonders if it can go on meeting like this

By Tom Heneghan

OKINAWA, Japan (Reuters): The eight mightiest politicians in the world ponder global issues behind closed doors once a year and wonder afterwards if they can still go on meeting like this.

The latest Group of Eight summit, which closed on Sunday on Japan's sun-and-surf island of Okinawa, ended true to form with a session on the best way for the world's power elite to network.

Should Russia be a full partner if its economy is so much weaker than the others? Should the list of topics be shortened?

Can just eight countries -- the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and, more recently, Russia -- legitimately act like some kind of world directorate?

These questions mirror key trends that have changed the world since the first cozy "fireside chat" in Rambouillet chateau outside Paris in 1975, covered by only a handful of journalists.

The collapse of Soviet communism, the growing importance of the Third World and the galloping pace of globalization have all expanded the group's original focus on economics and increased the need for world leaders to keep in close contact.

As the years have gone by, the summits have turned into mega- events with thousands of officials and journalists attending and long lists of problems discussed. The cost has also risen -- Japan splashed out US$750 million for G8 sessions this year.

"These meetings are essential for the democratic life of the world," French President Jacques Chirac said after the summit.

"Knowing each other and speaking to each other freely is a very important element in detente. The fact that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin was at the table as a friend is much better than the way things were during the Cold War."

Putin cleverly used his debut at the G8 to challenge the other leaders to accept post-communist Russia as a full member, after years of keeping it out of Group of Seven economic talks and then letting it in for G8 global issues.

"We have found our place ... Russia cannot stand aside, we need to integrate into the structures where the decisions which affect us are being taken," he announced.

By stressing his role as a team player and avoiding any hint he wanted special treatment, Putin made them wonder whether the current divide -- G7 for the really rich and G8 to include the new partner they want to help and placate -- was still relevant.

He found support from at least two other leaders.

Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, who will host next year's summit in Genoa, Italy, suggested to the others that Russia should be fully integrated into the group more quickly.

"It doesn't really work that financial statements are drafted by G7 sherpas and ministries without Russia's participation," said Amato, who claimed the others all agreed with him.

"I don't think it's needed anymore," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said of the policy of excluding Russia from the opening session. His aide Michael Steiner called the separate session "a fossil".

But British Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman Alastair Campbell was less enthusiastic about admitting Russia fully, saying: "We think at this stage further work needs to be done."

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said simply: "We'll see what happens next year in Italy."

While the Germans -- traditionally Russia's strongest supporter in the G8 -- spoke as if Moscow were already a full member, they brushed off suggestions from some Third World critics that the group should take in China as well.

"There was no talk of any G9," Steiner told journalists.

The end of the old East-West divide, which made big powers see the Third World through the prism of the Cold War, has also led to a new emphasis on good governance in developing counties and less patience with corruption and inefficiency there.

The G8 has increasingly become involved in development issues, debating how to bridge the "digital divide" between computer haves and have-nots and how to fight diseases such as AIDS and malaria that hold poor countries back from growing.

Concerned about the plethora of topics the summits now handle, Amato said he wanted to cut next year's agenda back to two or three key issues. The "sherpas" who prepare the way to the summit should not write the final communique in advance.

"We should also open the discussion to non-governmental organizations and groups that aren't currently involved in the G8, otherwise people will start questioning our institutions."

"Now that we've reached a globalized economy, we must pursue the globalization of democracy," Amato told journalists.