G8 leaders begin summit with economy, climate change on agenda

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries began their summit Wednesday, with the economic crisis and climate change at the top of their three-day agenda.

The summit started with a working luncheon, with the bulk of the first-day discussion generally focusing on the troubled global economy.

President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso (L) and  Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country is holding  the rotating presidency of the European Union, attend a joint news  conference in L'Aquila, Italy, July 8, 2009. The press conference  prior to the G8 summit, to be held here on July 8-10, covered  major topics to be discussed during the summit.(Xinhua/Zeng Yi)

The G8 leaders, from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Canada, were expected to issue a statement on the situation of the world economy.

Nearly one year after the financial crisis developed, the world economy remains in a deep recession that has not been seen since World War II.

Thanks to massive stimulus packages put into motion by national governments, however, the G8 finance ministers agreed in June that there are signs of stabilization of their economies, which account for two thirds of the world's total output. The ministers called for appropriate exit strategies to loosen the extraordinary policy measures.

Michael Froman, President Barack Obama's economic adviser, said the summit would be a time for the leaders to get together to assess the effects of the economic recovery effort and decide on additional steps.

The World Bank warned on the eve of the summit that the G8 leaders should not be overly optimistic about a global recovery.

"Yet 2009 remains a dangerous year. Recent gains could be reversed easily, and the pace of recovery in 2010 is far from certain," World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in a letter to the G8 leaders.

The G8 leaders were expected to make a new push for global financial reforms in order to prevent another crisis, but Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the host of the summit, on Friday downplayed any prospect of new rules.

The summit, he said, will be just "one step" in a long process.