US President Barack Obama said Saturday that the G8 - which includes Russia — agreed that the political process in Syria should move forward “in a more timely fashion.” “We had a discussion about Syria, we all believe that a peaceful resolution and a political transition in Syria is preferable,” Obama said flanked by leaders of the G8 industrialized nations at a Camp David summit. He said the group was unified on how to approach upcoming nuclear negotiations with Iran. “We're unified when it comes to our approach with Iran,” Obama said, adding that weaponization of the program was “something of grave concern to all of us.” Saturday they talked about the euro zone crisis and other economic issues, including oil market pressures at the summit. A US official described “a sense of optimism” about conditions in Myanmar, and said the G8 leaders pledged to cooperate on providing aid to the former Burma. Raising pressure on Iran, the leaders signaled their readiness to tap into emergency oil stockpiles quickly this summer if tougher new sanctions on Tehran threaten to strain supplies. In unusually blunt language, the G8 put the International Energy Agency — the West's energy adviser responsible for coordinating reserves — on standby for action. The Camp David summit comes days before the next round of Iran talks, to be held in Baghdad. The G8 leaders “affirmed the importance of having a uniform effort in approaching those Baghdad talks next week,” the official said. “Each of the leaders noted the urgency for Iran to take concrete steps to assure the international community of the peaceful purpose of its (nuclear) program,” the official said. On the crackdown by Damascus, the official described broad agreement on “the need to move rapidly toward a plan for political transition within Syria” and said that while Medvedev did not outright support that call, he did not oppose it either.
