Brussels, 20/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - In Genoa, in a state of siege and to a backdrop of violence and demonstrations against globalisation, the summit of the group of most industrialised countries opened on Friday. These G8 countries are France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia. In addition to the eight Heads of State, the presidents of the Commission and the EU Council of Ministers, Romano Prodi and Guy Verhofstadt, are also taking part.
The agenda of the G8 meeting is particularly full. The fight against poverty, slowdown in the world economy, the Middle East, the Balkans and especially Macedonia, the Kyoto Protocol and the US missile shield project will be at the centre of discussions to last until Sunday morning. Essentially devoted to economic issues, the first day of the Summit will have been marked by the creation of a Global Health and Aid Fund intended to fight transmissible diseases such as AIDs, tuberculosis and malaria. The meeting, however, is expected to reach cruising speed on Saturday when Russian President Vladimir Putin joins his western and Japanese colleagues. Discussions look as though they will be difficult at least on two issues: the Kyoto Protocol and the US missile shield project. US President George Bush clearly announced on Thursday, in London, that he planned to remain firm on these two issues. He will therefore be opposed to the Europeans on the first, although he does plan to present "a strategy that may diverge over means but which shares the same aim" as the protocol. Discussions may be even more tense concerning the missile shield, which arouses opposition from Russia and concern from several European allies in Washington. The leaders should, moreover, restate the appeal launched on Thursday by the G8 Foreign Ministers to Israel and Palestine so that they agree to the deployment of international monitors on the ground with a view to putting an end to the spiral of violence in the Middle East (see EUROPE of 20 July, p.4).