The first day of the G8 Summit in L'Aquila is now under way. The Heads of State and Government Leaders arrive in the course of the morning. Before the working sessions got under way, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi escorted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Onna, a village that has become the very symbol of the earthquake.On global climate change:
The Abruzzo Summit starts officially at around 13:00 with a working luncheon for the G8 Leaders, devoted to the global economy. Prime Minister Berlusconi welcomes the Heads of State and Government Leaders outside the Heads of Delegations dining area, where the luncheon is being held. The 'family photo' of the Eight Leaders will be taken after the first working session.
The first working session is on the slate for 15:30, running until 17:30. Prime Minister Berlusconi will accompany US President Barack Obama at around 17:45 to visit the historic centre of L'Aquila, which was so badly damaged in the earthquake. Berlusconi will then take Russian Federation President Dmitriy Medvedev on a tour of the same area.
Meanwhile, the first ladies will tour Rome:The spouses of the Heads of State and Government Leaders meeting at the G8 Summit in L'Aquila are spending the day in Rome.
Their schedule includes a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican in the morning,a welcome luncheon at Rome's Campidoglio city hall and a guided tour of the Capitoline Museums.
The First Ladies will be accompanied to the Caffarelli terrace by Isabella Alemanno,the wife of the Mayor of Rome,together with Ministers Mara Carfagna and Maria Stella Gelmini. In the evening,Ms.Clio Napolitano,the wife of the President of the Republic, will be holding a cocktail party for the first ladies in the Sala degli Specchi at the Quirinale.
Tomorrow the world leaders will focus on policies to alleviate poverty.
The leaders may fall short on reaching a commitment to keep the globe's average temperature rise under 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit in a bid to contain global warming. The United States, Japan, Canada and Russia — half of the G-8 — have previously refused to back it, and the White House declined Wednesday to comment if it had signed off on a statement citing the temperature threshold.
U.S. backing for the deal would mark an abrupt turnaround from the Bush administration's stand and be a strong gesture to developing nations.
'Right direction'
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters that he hoped that the leaders could agree to the specific limit on the rise in temperature.
"We are not yet there where we would like to be but I think things are shaping in the right direction for Copenhagen," Barroso said, referring to the next meeting of a key international summit to replace the Kyoto protocol in December. MSNBC
White House fact sheet on the G-8.
