G8 Leaders Discuss Economic Growth, Fiscal Restraint

25 June 2010

President Barack Obama arrives at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada, 25 Jun 2010, for the G8 and G20 Summit

On the first day of the G8 summit in Canada, President Barack Obama and other world leaders held initial discussions on ways to strengthen the global economy and build on commitments from past summits. Senior U.S. administration officials point to what they call an emerging consensus on the issues of sustaining global economic growth, and fiscal responsibility.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally welcomed President Obama and other leaders to the resort north of Toronto, shaking hands with each before the G8 group went into a working lunch, and sessions with leaders from African, Latin American and Caribbean nations invited to the summit.

The G8 includes the eight leading industrial democracies, the U.S., Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia, while the larger G20 includes such major emerging powers as China, India and Brazil.

In remarks before he departed Washington, Mr. Obama said he hopes nations will decide to build on progress by coordinating efforts for economic growth, pursue economic reform, and strengthen the world economy.

"We need to act in concert for a simple reason. This crisis proved and events continue to affirm that our national economies are inextricably linked, and just as economic turmoil in one place can quickly spread to another, safeguards in each of our nations can help protect all nations," he said.