Blair holds private talks with Bush at summit

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was today having private talks at the G8 summit with US President George Bush.

Their 45-minute breakfast discussion on the remote Sea Island, near Savannah, Georgia, comes after the United Nations Security Council last night unanimously approved a resolution endorsing the hand-over of sovereignty in Iraq.

Today’s talks were expected to focus on the transfer of power to Baghdad at the end of the month and on how to breathe new life into the Middle East Peace process.

Mr Blair told reporters last night: “It is crucial that we make progress in the Middle East and I have no doubt that will form part of the discussions.

“What’s important is to recognise that if Iraq can achieve the democracy its people want to see, that will be an enormous force for stability in the region.”

The two leaders were meeting on the first full day of the gathering of heads of the world’s leading industrialised democracies – the US; the UK; Russia; Japan; Canada; France; Germany and Italy.

A host of African and Middle Eastern leaders from South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki to King Abdulah of Jordan have also been invited to the summit.

Agreement is expected on a range of measures to boost economic and social reform in the regions, possibly including a package of debt relief for some African nations.

Mr Blair and Mr Bush have agreed to make reform and aid in Africa a particular focus of their successive chairmanships of the G8.

Next year’s summit will be held in the UK.

The Sea Island meeting was being held amid unprecedented security even for such an annual gathering, with an aircraft carrier complete with F16 fighters patrolling its Atlantic coastline down in America’s Deep South.

Later today, Mr Blair’s wife Cherie was due to join First Lady Laura Bush and other leaders’ spouses for talks on global women’s issues.