G-8 leaders to begin three-day summit in Hokkaido

TOYAKO, Japan, July 7 (Itar-Tass) - The G-8 summit will kick off in the fashionable Windsor Hotel on the bank of Lake Toya on Hokkaido Island on Monday.

For three days the leaders of the world's eight leading
nations will discuss the most urgent global challenges ranging from global warming, aid to Africa and food crisis to unstable world financial system, the growth of fuel and energy prices as well as counteraction to terrorism.

The G-8 summit is being held for the 34th time. It will be a debut for the Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda who will play host to the gathering.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown will also participate in the summit for the first time.

The summit on Hokkaido will be the eighth and the last for the
outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, the veteran of the G-8 movement.
Other participants will include Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper and
French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The European Commissions President Jose Manuel Barroso will
traditionally represent the European Union.

The leaders of Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Ethiopia,
South Africa as well as the World Bank President Robert Zoellick and U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend a separate meeting on aid to
Africa on the summit's opening day.

The Russian president's aide Arkady Dvorkovich told Itar-Tass that the
slashing of debts to Africa wouldn't be the only subject to dominate that
separate meeting. It will also discuss the allocation of funds for
concrete programs. Dvorkovich recalled that Russia was investing funds in
educational programs, struggle against infectious diseases and food aid.

Russia spent more than $200 million for these purposes in 2007.

Economic challenges will be discussed on the summit's last day. A
group of five booming economies - Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, India and
China - will join the discussion of economic issues. The format of the
discussion will expand still further when Australia, South Korea and
Indonesia join a debate on global climatic changes.

The summit's second day will be devoted to pressing international
security issues. "Special attention will be paid to the problems of Iran
and North Korea, especially in the context of non-proliferation (of
nuclear weapons). The leaders will also address the Middle East problem,"
Dvorkovich went on to say.

The G-8 leaders are expected to adopt statements on each of the main
topics on the agenda.

A special document will be adopted on global economy. "The discussion
will focus on ways of handling the current processes including the
situation in the fuel and energy market," Dvorkovich emphasized.

"Questions linked to investment development and the Doha round of
talks will also be discussed. Special attention will be paid to the
protection of intellectual property as one of the key elements of
innovative development. The document will also touch upon the question of
international financial organizations whose task is to regulate world
economic processes," Dvorkovich explained.

G-8 summits always offer a good opportunity for bilateral contacts or
meetings on the sidelines if a contemporary diplomatic jargon is to be
used. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev is expected to have about fifteen
sideline meetings.

Despite a busy schedule, the Japanese hosts have prepared a small
entertainment program for the G-8 guests and hope to please them with good
weather, hospitality and the Japanese cuisine.

The wives of the G-8 leaders will have a separate program. They will
learn how to cultivate ecologically clean products, will take part in a
tea ceremony, see models of the national kimono dress and visit an
international press centre.