The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Researcher will be working 16-hour-days Continued from page 1 3 · Thursday, June 24, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com doctorate at the University of Toronto. This is how she got involved with the summits. "My research focused on the issue of G8 accountability and the extent to which the leaders comply with their summit commitments," said Kokotsis. "At the time, attending the summits was the only way to collect documents vital to my research that weren't available elsewhere in the world. "Throughout this time, I've had the good fortune of travelling around the world speaking on the summit process, its policies and institutions." The annual G8 meetings provide an opportunity for the leaders of the most industrialized economies to meet face-to-face, address a broad range of global issues, coordinate their development and security policies and collectively manage global crises. "During a typical summit, the leaders would meet as a group about three times a day, focusing each session on a particular theme, for example, development," said Kokotsis. Leaders will then have the opportunity in between sessions to get to know each other privately through a series of bilateral meetings, which only take place between two leaders. This allows them to focus on an area of mutual interest. On the last day of the summit, the result from the meetings is a declaration outlining a list of commitments to which all the leaders have collectively agreed. According to Kokotsis, because Canada is the Previous G8 summits Since its first meeting in 1975, the range of the summit has expanded considerably. What began as a one-day meeting to deal with global economic concerns has progressed into an event that covers an extensive range of international issues. Below is the last summit cycle as an example, from 2002-2009, which covered a diversity of issues. These include: · 2002 Kananaskis: - A focus by the G8 on a new approach to African development; along the lines of "help for self-help" (NEPAD ­ New Plan for African Development). · 2003 Evian: Terrorism and security was the key focus: G8 leaders committed $20 billion to disarmament, destruction of chemical weapons, dismantling of nuclear subs and disposal of fissile materials. · Sea Island 2004: Iraq and Middle East; support for the Iraqi people and a fully sovereign Iraqi state. · Gleneagles 2005: Introduction of a $50 billion uplift commitment from the G8 on African aid. · St. Petersburg 2006: Focus on ensuring a sufficient, reliable and environmentally responsible energy supply. · Heligindamm 2007: Focus was on strategies for global imbalances and how to sustain robust global economic growth. · Hokkaido 2008: A move away from the Kyoto Protocol with a focus on cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050, a concept referred to as "Cool Earth 50". · L'Aquila 2009: The release of an extensive accountability report, detailing a number of important development commitments and how the G8 has complied with them. host country of two consecutive summits, people can expect Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring up a variety of issues to both summit meetings, among them maternal and child health is expected to top the G8 agenda. "As host, Canada will champion the "Muskoka Initiative" aimed at reducing the number of maternal and child deaths in developing countries," said Kokotsis. "Having proposed a commitment of over $1 billion across five years, the Prime Minister will rally his G8 partners for similar financial support on this initiative. "At the G20 (summit), a number of economic issues will be on the table including financial and regulatory reform, restoring a healthy global economy and promoting open markets." This year marks the first time a country is hosting consecutive G8 and G20 summits. The G8, which normally runs over three days, is now being shared with the G20, giving the leaders a day and a half at each event. "We can expect that the agendas will be tight and focused as the leaders will have a lot off issues to cover in the short time they're together." The summits won't just be bringing the world leaders and issues to Huntsville and Toronto this weekend. They're also bringing with them a high price tag in security and accommodation costs, which has elicited a largely negative reaction from people across the country, including opposition party leaders questioning the validity of the bill, which has now surpassed $1 billion. Kokotsis admits that while the cost is high, it's not a waste of money. She says not only is it necessary, but it's our responsibility as the host country to be adequately prepared. "The host government has the responsibility of paying for the summit and its associated security and organizational costs. The difference this year is that Canada is breaking new ground by hosting back-to-back G8 and G20 summits," said Kokotsis. "The price tag of taking on this responsibility is no doubt high. "But these summits mark a very significant opportunity for Canada to exercise its global leadership, pursue its foreign and economic policy agenda and shape global developments on a broad range of issues." With the costs of hosting the summits, another issue that comes up is the aftermath of the summits. Commitments are made and plans are laid. What happens next? Kokotsis is confident we will see a number of tangible and concrete commitments coming from the summit. "One of the key drivers will be the release of the G8 accountability report, which outlines how each of the G8 countries are doing in terms of fulfilling their aid, food security, health and environmental commitments made over the past five years," said Kokotsis. "This move to increased transparency in the G8 process will undoubtedly put pressure on countries to comply as no country wants to be seen as not doing their share." Kokotsis' schedule always gets quite busy in the lead-up to the G8, but this year is more demanding than usual given that Canada is hosting both summits. Once the summits begin, the hours will increase for Kokotsis and her colleagues to about 16 hours a day. This will include everything from attending press conferences and conducting interviews, to supporting media organizations and collecting research information, to producing analytical assessments. "Since this has never been done before, it effectively means double-duty as I'm involved in a number of pre-summit conferences, press events and media interviews related to both summits." When she's not attending summits and contributing reports affiliated with the research group, Kokotsis works fulltime for the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), a not-for-profit agency that operates the wholesale electricity market in Ontario. Managing the two positions can be a difficult task; on top of that, she also has two children and a husband. "Juggling work in the energy sector, intense volunteerism and parenthood can be daunting at times and would not be possible without the continued support of my husband and family." Even though Kokotsis is living in Oakville, she has also been a long-time resident of the Muskoka region where she has been involved in a number of pre-summit events providing information to the local community on what the summit is all about, what the locals can expect when the G8 comes there and the benefits to the region. "It's a chance for Canada to advance its values and interests, and profile its arts and culture while showcasing two remarkable parts of our country -- Muskoka and Metro Toronto," said Kokotsis. "I think the value of these benefits really speak for themselves."