Harper meets with Japanese PM ahead of G8 meetings today
Posted May 26, 2011 7:58 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DEAUVILLE, FRANCE (NEWS1130) – Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with his Japanese counterpart in France this morning ahead of the formal start to the G8 meetings.
This is Harper’s first big trip since winning a majority government in the May 2nd election, and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan congratulated him on his recent election victory. Kan also thanked Canada for its support in the aftermath of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in March.
Harper told Kan that Canada’s offer of assistance in helping Japan recover from the effects of the disaster still stands.Canadian officials are also helping the Japanese monitor the fallout from the quake-ravaged Fukushima nuclear plant.
Nuclear safety and Japan’s precarious economy are the first subjects up for discussion at the formal G8 talks that begin over a working lunch later today. The uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa will also be key topics discussed later in the summit.
Other issues the leaders are expected to talk about include Internet freedom. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google chairman Eric Schmidt will be there as well.
The small upmarket French resort where the G8 leaders will meet has been locked down. About 12,000 police officers and security personnel are monitoring it.
“There’s a big bridge and a river in the way for starters, and that will be closed if they make any attempt to get over to Deauville. So, no sort of angry scenes in Deauville itself, whether things get a little heated in the other towns nearby. We will have to wait and see later today,” says CNN’s Dan River.
Police reportedly halted the first of several protests planned in Paris, detaining around 50 demonstrators.
This is the first G8 Summit since last summer’s meeting in Huntsville, Ontario that preceded the much maligned G20 gathering in Toronto.
