Bono: Sarkozy 'vital' to fighting poverty

U2 frontman Bono is wooing French President Nicolas Sarkozy to get backing in the fight against poverty and Aids.

Bono says Sarkozy’s leadership “is vital on all the things that I care about” because he will head the G8 and the G20 next year and “France is going to be the most important country on the planet”.

Bono met Sarkozy today and left the presidential palace upbeat. He said the president does not plan to cut back on development as others are doing.

The meeting came ahead of a UN summit starting on Monday on Millennium Development Goals to fight world poverty.

As for the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Bono said jokingly that Sarkozy “sleeps with the Global Fund” because first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is a “very effective advocate”.