08 June 2004 07:43
G8 leaders arrive for US summit
ByLine: Peter Kahler, On Special Assignment
Savannah, US (PANA) - At least three of the seven leaders expected to join US President George Bush at the 2004 G8
Summit had arrived here early Tuesday for the meeting. Prime Ministers Paul Martin of Canada and Junichiro Koizumi of
Japan as well as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder flew into the Hunter Army Airfield, south of here, and were met on
arrival by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson.
The august visitors were later taken to the secluded Sea Island for the 8-10 June summit on global economic,
political and social issues. Ahead of the meeting, President Bush would hold working lunch with Martin, Koizumi,
Schroder and Russian President Vladimir Putin, expected later in the day. G8 members Canada, Russia, Germany and France
were critical of the US-led invasion of Iraq, and President Bush is expected to persuade his counterparts to lend their
support to American blueprint for returning peace and security to the occupied Arab nation. Transition in Iraq,
political and democratic reforms in the broader Middle East and North Africa, as well as Muslim States, such as
Afghanistan and Turkey, are widely expected to top the agenda of the Sea Island summit. Adding credence to the
expectation is the invitation to Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, selected only a fortnight ago to oversee the
transitional government, and the leaders of Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Turkey and Yemen, to attend the
summit. They meet the G8 leaders on Wednesday. Some Arab leaders reportedly turned down the invitation to the summit,
insisting that democratic political change should be home-grown, and accused the US of interfering in their internal
affairs and downplaying the long-drawn Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Six African leaders from Ghana, Senegal, Algeria,
Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda, also invited to the Summit will Thursday hold a working lunch with the G8 leaders.
They are expected to talk about HIV/AIDS, development, food security, polio and peacekeeping on the continent, although
advocates here are pushing for debt cancellation for heavily indebted African, Asian and Latin American countries. But
pro-African activists wonder what message the African leaders would bring to the table, and the impact of such a message
on leaders of the world's most industrialised nations a few hours to the end of their annual summit
[Panafrican News Agency (PANA) Daily Newswire] |
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