Finance ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) gathered Friday in the central Japanese city of Osaka to discuss the world economy, global warming and aids to African development in the run-up to the G8 summit scheduled for July 7-9 in Hakkaido.
Under the chairmanship of Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, the G8 session started with an "outreach" dinner, during which the G-8 ministers discussed such issues as food and other commodity prices with ministerial participants from Australia, Thailand, Brazil, China, South Korea and South Africa.
(from R to L, front row) British Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling，U.S. treasury secretary Henry Paulson, Russian Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin, Tai Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, Australian Finance Minister Wayne Swan, (from R to L, back row) International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka, Asian Developmnet Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, South Afican Finance Minister Special Advisor Michael Sachs, South Korean Vice Finance Minister Choi Joong-Kyung, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Li Yong, Brazilian Finance Secretary for International Affairs Marcos Galvao pose for a group picture ahead of the G8 Finance Ministers' Meeting, in Osaka, Japan on June 13, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) The G8 session will focus on worldwide inflationary pressure that stems from soaring crude oil and food prices and mid- and long-term approaches to improve the supply-demand relations in the field of energy.
The G8 meeting is also expected to approve in principle the establishment of the Climate Investment Funds, financed mainly by the United States, Japan and Britain, to help developing countries with measures to curb global warming.
European commission, the current EU chair Slovenia and International organizations such as the International Monetary Fund are also invited to the outreach meeting.
The issue of climate change is to be discussed Saturday at the outreach breakfast before the G8 finance ministers begin at 09:30.
Source:Xinhua
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