NDA (II) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 136 of 146

Correct — C, Russia. The G7 is Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the European Union taking part without being counted in the number. Russia is the odd one out, and the timing of this question is precise rather than accidental. Russia had been a full member since 1998, making the group the G8; its membership was suspended in March 2014 over the annexation of Crimea; and having announced in January 2017 that it would leave permanently, its departure took effect in June 2018 — three months before this paper was set.

• (a)France — France is not merely a member but the group's originator — the first meeting of the six leading industrial economies was convened at Rambouillet in France in 1975, the gathering that grew into the G7 when Canada joined the following year.
• (b)Germany — Germany has been in the group from the beginning, joining as West Germany in 1975 and continuing after reunification. It is one of the four European members alongside France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
• (d)Japan — Japan is the only Asian member of the G7 and has been part of the group since its first meeting. It is also, until fairly recently, the only non-Western economy in it.

The G7 is not a treaty organisation. It has no charter, no secretariat and no headquarters — it is an annual meeting of the leaders of seven advanced economies, with the presidency rotating and the host setting the agenda. That informality is why membership can change by announcement rather than by amendment, as Russia's entry and exit both show. The European Union attends as a participant that is not counted towards the seven, represented by the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council.

Group-membership questions reward learning the list as a whole, because the wrong answer is always a plausible large economy left out on purpose. The useful contrast is that Russia does belong to the G20, to BRICS and to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and it is only from the G7 that it is excluded. India, for its part, has never been a G7 member but is frequently invited as a guest. As of the exam Russia's exit had just become final, and the position has not changed since — Russia has attended no G7 summit after 2013.

• The G7 members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• Russia became a full member in 1998, turning the group into the G8.
• Russia's membership was suspended in March 2014 following the annexation of Crimea.
• Russia announced in January 2017 that it would leave permanently, and the departure took effect in June 2018.
• The European Union participates in the G7 without being counted as one of the seven.

• Answering from the G8 as it stood before 2014; the group has been seven since the suspension.
• Counting the European Union as an eighth member — it participates but is not counted.
• Assuming exclusion from the G7 means exclusion generally; Russia remains in the G20, BRICS and the SCO.

Asked as an odd-one-out membership item where the excluded country is a major power that once belonged.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Russia's membership of the G8 was suspended in 2014 following

  • (a)its intervention in Syria
  • (b)the annexation of Crimea
  • (c)a dispute over energy pricing
  • (d)its withdrawal from an arms control treaty

  Answer(b) the annexation of Crimea — suspended in March 2014, and Russia's exit was made permanent with effect from June 2018.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is the only Asian member of the G7?

  • (a)China
  • (b)India
  • (c)Japan
  • (d)South Korea

  Answer(c) Japan — a member since the group's first meeting in the mid-1970s.