G8 Leaders gather at Camp David

MARYLANDㅡ The leaders of the G8 nations meeting at Camp David on Friday-Saturday agreed that Iran needed to take concrete steps to prove the claim that its nuclear program was peaceful, a U.S. official said.

The onus is on the government in Tehran to disclose more about its nuclear activities, the G8 leaders agreed at Friday’s opening dinner, hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The meeting, at Camp David near Washington, comes ahead of a fresh round of international talks with Iran, to be held in Baghdad.

The leaders, including France’s newly elected President Francois Hollande and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, also stressed the need to move rapidly toward a plan for political transition in Syria, the senior White House official said.

The gatherings come in the shadow of the eurozone debt crisis and plummeting public support for the war in Afghanistan. Political and economic chaos in Greece and Spain underscored just how fragile Europe’s economy remains after an eviscerating austerity regime. Germany’s finance minister predicted Friday that the crisis could last up to another two years.

German Chanceller Angela Merkel will face a push from Obama and new French President Francois Hollande for more measures aimed at spurring economic growth. Merkel has pushed for countries to cut their budget deficits to stop piling up added debt. But steep cutbacks in government spending have stalled the economy in the 17 countries that use the euro.

“Exactly what the nature of the transition is will be worked through in coming days,” the official said.

Medvedev, who is filling in for President Vladimir Putin, “did not dispute the need for some type of political process in the country that would be responsive to the Syrian people,” he added.
Putin said he could not attend as he was busy finalizing his cabinet.

On Friday, French President Hollande said he would put pressure on Moscow to back new UN Security Council Russia on Syria.

Russia has vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions on Syria over what it says is a pro-rebel bias, but gave its full backing to a UN-backed peace plan in March.
Leaders also said North Korea needed to adhere to international norms for nuclear matters and that it would face deepened isolation if it “continues down the path of provocation”

At the end of the dinner, Obama gave a chocolate birthday cake to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, whose birthday is on Sunday. <Cihan>

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