Organization:Group of 15

Short description: Informal forum

Group of 15

Members of G-15
Formation	September 1989 1990 (Summit)
Purpose	Act as a catalyst for greater cooperation between leading developing countries.
Location	Geneva, Switzerland
Membership	List Algeria Argentina Brazil Chile Egypt India Indonesia Iran Jamaica Kenya Malaysia Mexico Nigeria Senegal Sri Lanka Venezuela Zimbabwe
G-15 Chair	IRN
Website	www.g15.org

The Group of 15 (G-15) is an informal forum set up to foster cooperation and provide input for other international groups, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Group of Seven. It was established at the Ninth Non-Aligned Movement Summit Meeting in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1989, and is composed of countries from Latin America, Africa, and Asia with a common goal of enhanced growth and prosperity. The G-15 focuses on cooperation among developing countries in the areas of investment, trade, and technology. Chile, Iran and Kenya have since joined the Group of 15, whereas Yugoslavia is no longer part of the group, and Peru, a founding member-state, decided to leave the G-15 in 2011. Membership thus has since expanded to 17 countries, but the forum's name remains unchanged.

Structure and activities

Some of the objectives of the G-15 are:

• To harness the considerable potential for greater and mutually beneficial cooperation among developing countries
• To conduct a regular review of the impact of the world situation and of the state of international economic relations on developing countries
• To serve as a forum for regular consultations among developing countries with a view to coordinate policies and actions
• To identify and implement new and concrete schemes for South-South cooperation and mobilize wider support for them
• To pursue a more positive and productive North-South dialogue and to find new ways of dealing with problems in a cooperative, constructive and mutually supportive manner.

By design, the G-15 has avoided establishing an administrative structure like those for international organizations, such as the United Nations or the World Bank; but the G-15 does have a Technical Support Facility (TSF) located in Geneva. The TSF functions under the direction of the Chairman for the current year. The TSF provides necessary support for the activities of the G-15 and for its objectives. Other organs and functions of the G-15 include:

• Summit of heads of state and government: The G-15's summit is organized biennially, with the venue being rotated among the three developing regions of the G-15 membership.
• Annual meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs: G-15 Ministers of Foreign Affairs typically meet once a year to coordinate group activities and to prepare for the nest summit of G-15 leaders.
• Steering committee (Troika): A steering committee, or Troika, is composed of three foreign ministers, one from the preceding summit host country, the present host country and the anticipated next host countries. These three are responsible for oversight and coordination.
• Personal representatives of heads of state and government: Each member country is represented by personal representatives of heads of state and government who meet regularly in Geneva.

In addition, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Services (FCCIS) is a private sector forum of G-15 member countries. The purpose of the FCCIS is to coordinate and maximize efforts which promote business, economic development and joint investment in G-15 nations.

In 2010, the chairmanship of the G-15 was accepted by Sri Lanka at the conclusion of the 14th G-15 summit in Tehran.

Member countries and organizations

World Economic Outlook database (2012)

Region	Member	Leader		Foreign minister		Population	GDP (PPP, billion USD)	GDP per capita (PPP, USD)
Africa	Algeria	President	Abdelmadjid Tebboune	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Ramtane Lamamra	45,295,169	263.7	7,333
	Egypt	President	Abdel Fattah el-Sisi	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Sameh Shoukry	111,929,759	519.0	6,539.8
	Kenya	President	Uhuru Kenyatta	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Raychelle Omamo	54,606,493	71.4	1,746
	Nigeria	President	Muhammadu Buhari	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Geoffrey Onyeama	221,405,575	1109	6,204
	Senegal	President	Macky Sall	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Aïssata Tall Sall	17,557,531	25.2	1,871
	Zimbabwe	President	Emmerson Mnangagwa	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Frederick Shava	16,505,473	6.1	487
Asia	India	Prime Minister of India	Narendra Modi	Ministry of External Affairs	Subrahmanyam Jaishankar	1,422,652,968	10257.8	7333
	Indonesia	President	Joko Widodo	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Retno Marsudi	276,495,976	1124.6	10,585.4
	Iran	President	Ebrahim Raisi	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Hossein Amir-Abdollahian	88,875,750	990.2	13,053
	Malaysia	Prime Minister	Anwar Ibrahim	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Zambry Abdul Kadir	34,124,881	447.3	15,568
	Sri Lanka	President	Ranil Wickramasinghe	Minister of External Affairs	Ali Subry	21,867,876	116.5	5,674
Latin America and the Caribbean	Argentina	President	Alberto Fernández	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship	Santiago Cafiero	45,643,940	816.4	17,516
	Brazil	President	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Mauro Vieira	215,861,260	3294.2	11,769
	Chile	President	Gabriel Boric	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Alberto van Klaveren	19,616,738	299.6	17,222
	Jamaica	Prime Minister	Andrew Holness	Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade	Kamina Johnson-Smith	2,825,544	24.8	9,029
	Mexico	President	Andrés Manuel López Obrador	Secretary of Foreign Affairs	Marcelo Ebrard	128,028,612	2999.6	14,610
	Venezuela	President	Nicolás Maduro	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Jorge Arreaza	28,582,898	374.1	12,568

G-15 Summits

	Date	Host country	Host city	Host
1st G-15 summit	1–3 June 1990	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	Mahathir Mohamad
2nd G-15 summit	27–29 November 1991	Venezuela	Caracas	Carlos Andrés Pérez
3rd G-15 summit	21–23 November 1992	Senegal	Dakar	Abdou Diouf
4th G-15 summit	1994	India	New Delhi	P. V. Narasimha Rao
5th G-15 summit	5–7 November 1995	Argentina	Buenos Aires	Carlos Menem
6th G-15 summit	3–5 November 1996	Zimbabwe	Harare	Robert Mugabe
7th G-15 summit	28 October – 5 November 1997	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	Mahathir Mohamad
8th G-15 summit	11–13 May 1998	Egypt	Cairo	Hosni Mubarak
9th G-15 summit	10–12 February 1999	Jamaica	Montego Bay	P. J. Patterson
10th G-15 summit	19–20 June 2000	Egypt	Cairo	Hosni Mubarak
11th G-15 summit	30–31 May 2001	Indonesia	Jakarta	Abdurrahman Wahid
12th G-15 summit	27–28 February 2004	Venezuela	Caracas	Hugo Chávez
13th G-15 summit	14 September 2006	Cuba	Havana	Raúl Castro
14th G-15 summit	17 May 2010	Iran	Tehran	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
15th G-15 summit	2012	Sri Lanka	Colombo	Mahinda Rajapaksa

See also

• Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP)

Further reading

• Haas, P.M. (1992). "Introduction. Epistemic communities and international policy coordination", International Organization 46,1:1-35. ISSN 0020-8183, E-ISSN 1531-5088
• Bob Reinalda and Bertjan Verbeek. (1998). Autonomous Policy Making by International Organizations London: Routledge. ISBN:9780415164863; ISBN:978-0-203-45085-7; OCLC 39013643

External links

• G-15 official website
• IMF