G8 leaders kick off summit on economic crisis, climate change

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries began their summit Wednesday, with the economic crisis and climate change at the top of their three-day agenda.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is pictured at the opening of a round table session at the G8 summit in L'Aquila July 8, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The summit started with a working luncheon, with the bulk of the first-day discussion generally focusing on the troubled global economy.

The G8 leaders, from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Canada, were expected to issue a statement on the situation of the world economy.

Nearly one year after the financial crisis developed, the world economy remains in a deep recession that has not been seen since World War II.

Thanks to massive stimulus packages put into motion by national governments, however, the G8 finance ministers agreed in June that there are signs of stabilization of their economies, which account for two thirds of the world's total output. The ministers called for appropriate exit strategies to loosen the extraordinary policy measures.

Michael Froman, President Barack Obama's economic adviser, said the summit would be a time for the leaders to get together to assess the effects of the economic recovery effort and decide on additional steps.

The World Bank warned on the eve of the summit that the G8 leaders should not be overly optimistic about a global recovery.