It is important for the Group of Eight (G8) to have a dialogue with major developing countries including China, said Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.
This dialogue mechanism suggests a reaching-out by the G8 to other important players in the international system, Carpenter said in an interview with Xinhua.
Moreover, it is useful for the G8, an association of major economic powers in the world, to interact and communicate directly with major developing countries from time to time, he said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend the dialogue between the G8 and developing countries at the summit to be held in Hokkaido, northern Japan on July 7-9.
The G8, which groups together the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and Russia, holds a summit each year.
The G8 summit this year will focus on issues such as high oil prices and Iran's nuclear program, Carpenter said.
"I think the oil price issue will be very prominent, because this affects all major industrialized powers and is an immediate problem," he said.
While the summit is expected to issue a statement on high oil prices, the global oil supply is not increasing and there is also a problem of refinery capacity, he said.
Oil prices have been sharply rising recently, to a record high of above 145 U.S. dollars a barrel on Thursday.
Unless the world can obtain more refining capacity, high oil prices will continue to be a problem, although Saudi Arabia and some other countries have promised to increase oil production, Carpenter said.
According to the U.S. expert, the summit will also discuss the issues of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran, with Iran a much more difficult problem.
U.S. President George W. Bush, who will attend the summit, expects to get more support to impose more sanctions on Iran for its defiance over its nuclear programs.
The United States has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. However, Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
In addition, the summit is also expected to discuss other important issues such as climate change, Zimbabwe, Iraq and Myanmar.
However, Carpenter downplayed the prospects of the summit.
There will be a lot of very serious statements coming out of the meeting, but how much can be translated into concrete action remains to be seen, Carpenter said, noting that the summit has been criticized for being a forum of empty talk and no real action.
"It is very difficult to get different countries from different parts of the world with different interests at stake to really cooperate on serious, substantive matters," he said.
Moreover, with Bush in his last year of presidency and "a lame duck" president, the summit is not expected to make any significant accomplishments or breakthroughs, Carpenter said.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article