At the Heiligendamm Summit in June 2007, the 13 Heads of State and Government of the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States), the G5 (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa) and the President of the European Commission decided to establish the Heiligendamm Dialogue Process (HDP). In doing this Leaders recognised the interdependence of their economies and the importance of an active exchange on the framework conditions of a globalized and competitive world economy. The aim of this topic-driven political dialogue was to enhance trust and confidence among the dialogue partners as well as developing common understanding on global issues. The OECD was asked to provide a platform for this dialogue and since September 2007 the Support Unit has been housed in the OECD.

At the G8 Summit held in L’Aquila in July 2009, for the first time ever the G8/G5 issued a joint declaration. This document includes the concluding report of the HDP (achievements so far) and the agenda for the Heiligendamm L’Aquila Process (HAP) which has a two-year mandate up to the French Summit in 2011.

There was a broad consensus that the HAP should in particular:

• broaden the range of topics and allow more flexibility to take up pressing global challenges;
• strengthen the strategic orientation to produce concrete results; and
• explore further possibilities for producing spillovers from the HAP to other forums of international cooperation.