British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined leaders for the 2006 Progressive Governance Summit opened at Didimala Game Lodge in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, South Africa on Saturday.

Blair arrived at the game lodge for the two-day gathering attended by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, Swedish leader Goeran Persson, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-Chan and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who planned to join in 15 leaders at the summit, failed to appear in the meeting, and he will instead deliver a satellite transmission speech.

At the request of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was due to arrive later in the day, leaders were to discuss ways to advance international trade talks following key negotiations in Hong Kong in December.

World Trade Organization Director Pascal Lamy and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson were taking part in the informal discussions on the latest trade round that could open up rich markets to poorer nations.

While citing small progress toward a deal, Lamy has said that he hopes a final negotiating text will be completed by July to allow for agreement by the end of the year on the so-called Doha development round of the WTO.

The summit in Hammanskraal is the seventh meeting of center- left leaders in government and in the opposition since the club was created in 1999 by Blair and former U.S. president Bill Clinton.

This will be the first time that the summit takes place in the developing world. However, the summit is a closed door meeting.

The summit will be structured around three main themes: Political strategy - elections and new challenges from the new right and traditional left, Development and Africa - what

progressives should do following the New York Summit, and Policy Challenges of the 21st Century.

The Summit will be preceded by a high level round table discussion, a small high level Round Table, on Saturday, drawing together the heads of state/government attending the summit with a group of progressive leaders currently in opposition as well as a number of key international figures.

Two key themes will be discussed: What progressives can do to ensure the success of WTO negotiations; What is happening to the center-left across the world, and how to respond.

In preparation for the summit, the Africa Regional Conferencewas held at the Sandton Convention Center, Johannesburg in July last year.

Source: Xinhua