Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi in Rome on Friday, launching an intensive round of international diplomacy to push Britain's G8 priorities of tackling poverty in Africa and climate change. Blair also plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington ahead of the G8 summit in Scotland in July, Blair's official spokesman said Monday. Dates were not announced. The spokesman said Blair also planned to meet French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder during the first half of June if possible, to discuss Britain's agenda during its yearlong presidency of the Group of Eight industrialized nations. Blair would also speak via video conference with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Canadian Prime Minster Paul Martin, the Associated Press quoted the spokesman as saying. "We have set out an ambitious agenda for the G8, and this is the time for detailed negotiation," the spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. "The important point is that no one in the G8 dispute that Africa and climate change must be the priorities. We believe at this stage we are achieving progress, but we still have some way to go."
