French-Italian Summit: Expanding G8 Summit "Historic" Move
24/02/2009
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Italy's decision to expand the G8 to include the emerging economies, especially Egypt, "historic". In the course of today's Franco-Italian summit in Rome, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy also dwelt at some length on the issues on the agenda at the July G8 Summit on the island of La Maddalena, with Italy's proposal to involve the emerging countries in the G8's work at the top of the list.
In the course of the joint news conference that brought the Franco-Italian summit to a close, President Sarkozy thanked Italy for shouldering the "weighty responsibility" of leading an expanded G8. He highlighted, in particular, the importance of having an Arab and Muslim country at the talks. Expanding the G8 summit was a very important objective also for France, Sarkozy remarked, and Italy has now achieved that ambition in concrete terms. The Elysée chief went on to vow that France will be doing everything in its power to assure that the summit is a great success.
Prime Minister Berlusconi, for his part, discussed the gradual expansion of the working sessions in the three-day event next July. It will function as a G8 on the first day and as a G14 on the second day, while on the third day the leaders of the most important African countries and of the African Union will be joining in the talks. The prime minister pointed out that: "on the second day of the summit, those attending will represent 82% of the world's economy and 63% of the world's population".
