G8 Summit Opens in Northern Ireland
June 17, 2013
by VOA News
The G8 summit of leaders of key world economies has started in Northern Ireland, though the conference is likely to be dominated by talks on the U.S. decision to arm Syrian rebels.
U.S. President Barack Obama is planning to meet Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the G8 sidelines to discuss his decision to provide weapons to the rebels in their fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is an action that Putin has vocally opposed.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, dressed casually without a coat or tie, greeted the seven other heads of state before they headed into a meeting on the world economy.
Earlier, Obama spoke in Belfast to a young audience, calling peace in Northern Ireland a "blueprint" for those living in conflict zones around the world.
Obama said, "The terms of peace may be negotiated by leaders, but the fate of peace is up to you."
The summit at the Northern Irish golf resort of Lough Erne also includes the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.
While the G8 countries account for 50 percent of the world's economic output, to varying degrees they have struggled to emerge from the depths of the global recession of 2008 and 2009.
White House officials said last week that President Barack Obama intends to brief the other seven leaders at the summit about the U.S. plan to arm the Syrian rebels. The U.S. decided last week to send weapons to the rebels, declaring it had evidence that Assad's forces have used chemical weapons.
The White House also said Obama will speak about his continuing support for the U.S. National Security Agency's surveillance of telephone records of U.S. citizens and the monitoring of foreign nationals' use of the Internet.
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