Context: Recently, the USA President has suggested the postponement of the 46th G7 (Group of 7) Summit and has proposed an expansion of the list of invitees to the G7 summit to include Australia, Russia, South Korea and India in an effort to make the G7 more representative of the current status of global affairs.
Background

• The G-7 was known as the ‘G-8’ for several years after the original seven were joined by Russia in 1997.
• The Group returned to being called G-7 after Russia was expelled as a member in 2014 following the latter’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.
• Since his election in 2016, President Trump has suggested on several occasions that Russia be added again, given what he described as Moscow’s global strategic importance

About Group of Seven - G7 

• The G-7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• It is an intergovernmental organisation that was formed in 1975 by the top economies of the time as an informal forum to discuss pressing world issues.
• Canada joined the group in 1976, and the European Union began attending in 1977.
• Initially formed as an effort by the US and its allies to discuss economic issues, the G-7 forum has deliberated about several challenges over the decades, such as the oil crashes of the 1970s, and many pressing issues such as financial crises, terrorism, arms control, and drug trafficking.
• The G-7 does not have a formal constitution or a fixed headquarters.

Why G7 needs a revival?

• The decisions taken by leaders during annual summits are non-binding.
• The rise of India, China, and Brazil over the past few decades has reduced the G-7’s relevance, whose share in global GDP has now fallen to around 40%.
• China is not a member of G7 despite being the world's biggest population and second-biggest economy. But, China has relatively low levels of wealth per head of population. Thus it is not considered as an advanced economy like other G7 members.
• The expansion of G7 has been believed to be a plan to unite all traditional allies to deal with assertive diplomacy of China.
• The proposal comes amid ongoing issues between the US and China which includes Hong Kong’s autonomy to Taiwan, the origins of Covid-19, South China Sea tensions and trade issues.

G-7 and G-20:

• The G-20 is a larger group of countries, which also includes G7 members.
• The G-20 was formed in 1999, in response to a felt need to bring more countries on board to address global economic concerns.
• Apart from the G-7 countries, the G-20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey.
• Together, the G-20 countries make up around 80% of the world’s economy.
• As opposed to the G-7, which discusses a broad range of issues, deliberations at the G-20 are confined to those concerning the global economy and financial markets.
• India is slated to host a G-20 summit in 2022.

Road Ahead

• The rise of India, China, and Brazil over the past few decades has reduced the G7’s relevance. Thus, inclusion of emerging economies like India, South Korea,etc. may extend the support to establish equal levels for each country at global level.
• The proposed expansion may also help G7 to be a more representative institution than current G7 and subsequently to establish an equal platform at global level.