Sherpa (G8)
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A sherpa is the personal representative of a
head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
or
head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...
who prepares an international summit, such as the annual G7 and G20 summits. Between the G7 summits there are multiple sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out. This reduces the amount of time and resources required at the negotiations of the heads of state at the final summit. The name sherpa—without further context—refers to sherpas for the G7 summit, but the designation can be extended to different regular conferences where the participation of the head of state is required. The sherpa is generally quite influential, although they do not have the authority to make a final decision about any given agreement. The name is derived from the Sherpa people, a
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
ese
ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
, who serve as guides and porters in the
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
, a reference to the fact that the sherpa does all the heavy lifting for the principal to reach a major summit.


European Union

In the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, the name was originally used informally for representatives of the member states. Usually, representatives conduct preparatory work for the ministers. The only decisions with legislative power are made by ministers at the
Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...
(Council of Ministers), which is generally attended by representatives of ministerial rank although they can be replaced by delegates. The position of a chief negotiator can be traced back under varying names to the first years after the founding of the European Union, including the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) meetings. The name was enshrined in an official document since 2005 with the designation of a high-profile group on competition regulation in the chemistry industry that names officially a "Sherpa-Subgroup".


Examples

* In
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, Emmanuel Bonne is G7 and G20 sherpa. Previous French sherpas include Jacques Attali, Anne Lauvergeon, Jean-Marc de La Sablière, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, Jean-David Levitte; Pascal Lamy was a sherpa on the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
(representing Jacques Delors). * In
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, the canonic name of ''Chefunterhändler'' (chief negotiator) is a common second title to another high-profile position. The Bernd Pfaffenbach did hold this position since 2004 being also secretary of state in the Ministry of Economics (since 2005). The title was held before by Horst Köhler (former
President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...
) and Hans Tietmeyer (became later the President of the Deutsche Bundesbank). Since December 2009 the position of G8-Sherpa is held by Jens Weidmann who has been sherpa to the G20 summits before. * In India, Amitabh Kant is the Sherpa to the G-20. Previous Indian sherpas include Piyush Goyal, Suresh Prabhu, Shaktikanta Das, Arvind Panagariya, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. * In
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, Giampiero Massolo has been Sherpa for the G8 in 2008. Fabrizio Pagani has been G20 Sherpa in 2013.


Sherpa pre-summit

During the preliminary preparatory process which takes place in advance of a G7 summit, the leader of a G7 host country conventionally invites representatives from the other G7 participants to send representatives known as "sherpas" to develop the agenda topics and other matters. They often produce communiques which show the current state of negotiations. Apart from conferences of the sherpas of the head of state there are additional conferences held in specific domains that are routinely attended by other state secretaries in the government—most of the G8 countries have national sherpa teams in the field of foreign affairs (Foreign Affairs Sous-Sherpa) and finance (Finance Sous-Sherpa).


See also

*
Sous-Sherpa The term Sous-Sherpa translates as “under Sherpa.” Sherpas are the Nepalese porters that help climbers in the Himalayas. Experts say when used in the context of the G8 or G20 summit the term “Sous-Sherpa” most likely refers to the hefty w ...
* Spaak method * BRICS * G8 * G-20 major economies


References

{{reflist


External links


Sherpa's Blog
Official site on the pre-summits leading up to the G8 summit of 2010 in Canada. G7 summits Diplomacy