G8 leaders meeting in London
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will today chair a meeting of foreign ministers from the G8 group of leading industrialised nations for talks on Iran, the Middle East peace process and Afghanistan.
The foreign ministers are gathering in London ahead of next month’s summit of G8 leaders in Gleneagles with their own agenda of issues to discuss.
They will be briefed by James Wolfensohn, the former head of the World Bank who now acts as a special envoy to the Middle East, on developments in the region ahead of the planned Israeli pull-out from Gaza.
British officials said that they expected Mr Wolfensohn to come with his proposals for the G8 to offer further assistance – with a “price-tag” attached.
Prior to the main meeting, there will be a breakfast gathering of “the Quartet” on the Middle East, represented by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU representative Javier Solana.
The G8 ministers will also meet Afghan foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah to underline their support for the country as it approaches elections in September.
With Britain set to take over the leadership of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan next year, officials emphasised that assistance – although not necessarily military – would have to continue for years to come.
“We do see our commitment to Afghanistan in terms of a decade or more, not in terms of a year or more,” one senior British official said.
The talks are also expected to cover the continuing concerns over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, amid fear that Tehran is try develop a nuclear bomb.
However, with presidential elections still ongoing and fresh proposals to resolve the nuclear crisis due to be tabled later in the summer, it is thought that today’s discussions will essentially be a stock-taking session.
