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Tokyo (AFP) April 16, 2007 The Japanese and Italian premiers said Monday that global warming and African development will be high on the agenda when the two countries host Group of Eight summits. Japan will host the G8 gathering of leaders from the eight most industrialised countries next year, followed by Italy in 2009. This year's summit will take place in June in Germany. "As both our countries will be chairing these summits, cooperation is essential. The issues to be taken up at the G8 summit meeting are long-term issues," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said after meeting with Abe that he wanted "a strong message on energy cooperation" along with Japan. "It is necessary to strengthen further our technology cooperation," Prodi said of Japan and Italy. A UN report this month warned that climate change is set to inflict damage in every continent, hitting poor countries hardest, and threatening nearly a third of the world's species with extinction. The Japanese and Italian leaders said they also wanted to put Africa high on the agenda of the G8, which gathers leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. "It is necessary to build a joint policy towards Africa," Prodi said. "Africa is developing economically amid globalisation. We have up until now discussed major environmental and human disasters in Africa at our G8 meetings," Prodi said. "But from now on we should answer Africa's demands," such as investment, he said. The two leaders also agreed to cooperate over the North Korean crisis and in reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Prodi expressed support for Japan's bid for a seat on the UN Security Council. Prodi, who was the first Italian leader to visit Japan in seven years, earlier in the day joined his wife Flavia for a ceremonial audience with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. After the meeting with Abe, Prodi headed to the Tokyo National Museum to see Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "The Annunciation," which belongs to Florence's Uffizi gallery, officials said. Italy sent the 15th-century painting to Japan as part of a year of cultural exchanges between the two countries. The transfer set off protests in Italy, with one senator even chaining himself inside the Uffizi museum, saying the work was too fragile for transport.
Source: Agence France-Presse Email This Article
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