"I hope that we can send a strong signal together," said Chancellor Merkel after having lunch with Bush in Heiligendamm. At their first meeting they "went through the whole agenda" and found much common ground. Nevertheless, there was work to be done on several points. The two leaders said they had exchanged ideas "at great length" on combating poverty in Africa and climate protection.

For Merkel, the focus of the G8 meeting is on how to give globalisation a human face. They had to fight poverty together, she said, to guarantee freedom of investment and not lose sight of the social dimension of globalisation. Above all, leaders had to look at how to work together to stem the tide of international conflicts.

Moving forward climate protection together

President Bush thanked the Chancellor for her leadership on the topics on the G8 agenda. He promised Merkel his co-operation in the post-Kyoto process. The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change expires in 2012. Bush made it clear that the main task was to reduce greenhouse gases and to increase energy efficiency. "I have come here with a strong desire to work on a post-Kyoto pact," the President said.

He also announced more support for Africa, in particular in the fight against malaria and AIDS.

Bilateral meetings

Chancellor Merkel will be holding further bilateral meetings this afternoon. She will be talking to Italy’s Prime Minister Romano Prodi, to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

This continues a series of one-to-one meetings Merkel is holding with each of her seven guests. Over the course of the past few days Merkel had already met the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and her Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, in Berlin. Source : G8, may 6, 2007

 Photo : (REGIERUNGonline / Kühler) German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband Professor Joachim Sauer welcome Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen Harper to Hohen Luckow estate