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Chirac welcomes Bush to G-8 summit ( 2003-06-01 20:52) (7) US President George W. Bush arrived in Evian for the G-8 summit Sunday in his first trip to France since he and French President Jacques Chirac clashed over the US-led war in Iraq. Bush flew by helicopter across Lake Geneva to the French spa town after arriving in Switzerland in Air Force One from St. Petersburg, Russia, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders shook hands briefly as Bush arrived. Chirac, who had given other arriving leaders visibly warmer welcomes, offered Bush a stiff smile, Reuters reported. Chirac has said he wants the Group of Eight summit to be a scene of reconciliation after the Iraq war, and Bush has said he wants to put the differences over the war behind him. The French and US leaders will have a separate meeting on Monday. Chirac is pressing for progress to break a deadlock in global trade talks, but is likely to face US pressure over EU subsidies to French farmers and France's resistance to letting genetically modified food into Europe, Reuters reported. In Russia, Bush and Putin held a joint news conference at which they urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions and expressed concern about Iran's nuclear program. Bush said both the United States and Russia were "determined to meet the threats of weapons of mass destruction." It was the also the first meeting between Bush and Putin since the US-led Iraq war, which Russia also opposed. Both leaders said they were putting the dispute behind them. The "fundamentals of the relations between the United States and Russia turned out to be stronger than the forces and events that tested it," Putin said, as Bush nodded in agreement. However, the two leaders appeared to express a difference of opinions on Moscow's involvement in Iraq's nuclear program as well as Russia's future in Iraq's oil industry. (Full story) During his whirlwind tour of Europe, one of Bush's tasks has been to repair frayed relations with world leaders who opposed the war in Iraq, including those of Russia, France and Germany. Speaking Saturday in Poland, a staunch supporter of the war, Bush struck a conciliatory note. He said the United States was committed to a strong partnership with Europe, adding: "This is no time to stir up divisions in a great alliance." In St. Petersburg, where 40 world leaders gathered for the city's 300th anniversary celebration, Bush spoke to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for the first time in six months. "How are you?" Bush said after approaching Schroeder and offering his hand, according to German officials. The two leaders spoke briefly but were not seated at the same table during a banquet dinner. They had not spoken since November, when Schroeder ran for re-election on an anti-war platform. At the French-Swiss border, security forces were mounting an extensive operation Sunday to shield the G-8 summit from anti-capitalist protests. Riot police and anti-globalization protesters clashed in Annemasse, a community set aside for demonstrators near the conference site. (Full story) Bush plans to leave the G-8 summit a day early to fly to Egypt for a meeting with Arab leaders, where he said he would make it clear that there is "a responsibility for the leadership in the Arab world to fight terror." In Jordan, Bush will meet with new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss implementation of the US-backed "road map" to peace. Before returning to Washington, Bush will go to Doha, Qatar, home of US Central Command, to visit troops and get an update on conditions in Iraq. The president has no plans to visit Iraq.
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