G-8 summit may need a makeover

WASHINGTON -- The G-8 summit that President Bush and seven other world leaders are attending next weekend in Russia is often billed as a gathering of the world's leading economic powers. But it's not.

Consider: China, now the world's fourth-largest economy, is not a member.

Neither is India, the world's largest democracy and one of its fastest-growing economies. Nor is South Korea, Brazil, Mexico or Spain, each with a larger economy than G-8 member Russia's.

Critics view the annual economic summit as a Cold War relic that needs to be reconstituted. It was formed in the 1970s, but economic dynamics are far different three decades later. The astonishing growth of some Asian nations and parts of Latin America have altered the math.

Expanding or changing the membership is not on this year's agenda, nor is it likely to be on next year's.

Few officials from member nations seem eager to talk about the subject.