The 19th G7 summit included politicians.
19th G7 summit . The Group of Seven ( G7 ) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries : France , Germany , Italy , Japan , the United Kingdom , the United States , Canada ( since 1976 ) and the President of the European Commission ( starting officially in 1981 ) . The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions ; and in fact , a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France 's President Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany 's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the first Group of Six ( G6 ) summit in 1975 .