British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday enlisted Italy among the supporters of his decision to place Africa and climate change at the top of July's Group of Eight (G8) summit after a meeting in Rome with his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, reported dpa. "On the G8 agenda we are in agreement on the way forward, both in respect of Africa and climate change," Blair said at a joint press conference in the Italian capital. Berlusconi, in turn, spoke of his "respect" and "admiration" for Blair and assured him of "Italy's support" on both Africa and climate change, within the bounds of "reasonableness, concreteness and common sense". In his capacity as G8 President, Blair is seeking to gain support from fellow world leaders over plans to cancel worldwide debt for Africa and secure an agreement on moves to combat climate change. Blair said that although the plight of Africa had been on the G8 agenda "for a long time now", the purpose of this year's summit was to "put together all the different aspects of the problem, not just aid and debt, but also governance and content" into a comprehensive plan. --More 2301 Local Time 2001 GMT
