Politics
Obama hosts G8 leaders at Camp David summit
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron (l) speaks with U.S. President Barack Obama during a round table meeting at the G8 summit in Deauville May 27, 2011. PHOTO/Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama welcomes six world leaders today to the Camp David presidential retreat as he kicks off two international summits. Obama will meet the leaders of Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan at the G8 meeting at historic Camp David, a rural retreat tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the remote northwestern reaches of Maryland.
Only Vladimir Putin is skipping the meeting, an unexpected pullout that’s sparked talk of escalating tensions between the United States and Russia.
The Obama administration had moved the meeting to Camp David from Chicago in part to accommodate Putin. Instead, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will take his place.
Obama welcomes three fresh faces to the G8. France, Italy and Japan all have new heads of state. Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, on the other hand, is the longest-serving leader at the summit.
Obama is expected to have a one-on-one chat with Francois Hollande, the recently elected French president, as Canada and the European Union work toward a free-trade agreement.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, meantime, has been pushing Obama to consider a U.S.-EU free-trade pact.
In a series of working sessions at Camp David, the leaders will tackle everything from Afghanistan to Europe’s economic woes and the Iranian and Syrian crises.
