Genoa summit to open with G-7, wrap up with G-8 talks

Japan Policy & Politics, July 16, 2001

TOKYO, July 12 Kyodo

The upcoming summit of major economic powers in Genoa, Italy, will begin with a luncheon involving officials from the Group of Seven (G-7) nations around noon July 20 and close two days later with a communique by the Group of Eight (G-8) leaders, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said Wednesday.

The summit luncheon for the G-7 officials will be followed by talks among the leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States on global economic and trade issues as well as developing countries' debts, the officials said.

The G-7 leaders will announce a declaration at the end of their talks, according to the officials.

In the evening, the heads of state of the G-8 nations -- the G-7 plus Russia -- will hold talks with representatives of developing countries including Algeria, Bangladesh and El Salvador as part of their outreach efforts, the officials said.

The extracurricular talks will also be attended by leaders of Mali, Nigeria and South Africa as well as top officials of international organizations such as the United Nations and World Bank.

Full-fledged G-8 discussions on health and education issues concerning developing countries, the global environment, food safety, trans-national organized crime and outstanding regional situations will take place on the middle day, the officials said.

The Kyoto Protocol aimed at curbing global warming; the establishment of an international health fund envisioned to prevent the spread of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; and the Middle East peace process and situation in the Balkans are expected to be major topics of discussion, they said.

The G-8 leaders are scheduled to issue a statement concerning the regional situations on the afternoon of July 21 before spending the late evening conducting free discussions on various issues of concern in the 21st century.

In the morning of the final day, they are expected to adopt a joint communique, which will be announced by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during the chairman's press conference, the officials said.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will make his summit debut, as will U.S. President George W. Bush.

Other participants are British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

European Commission President Romano Prodi and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, representing the European Union which Belgium chairs for the latter half of this year, are also scheduled to take part in the meetings.

The summit conference will immediately follow the G-8 foreign ministerial conference scheduled next Wednesday and Thursday in Rome. The G-7 finance ministers' meeting took place Saturday, also in Rome.