Hollande to meet Obama at White House before G8 | WPN World People News

US President Barack Obama and new French President Francois Hollande are to meet at the White House on Friday, in a brief meeting scheduled ahead of the Group of Eight nations summit at Camp David.

The two are set to meet for about 45 minutes in the Oval Office.

Later, Obama is to head to Camp David, in the presidential retreat in Maryland, for the summit that comes amid the worsening European debt crisis.

On the talks agenda at the G8 is Greece's debt crisis, global food security and also the European Union ban on Iranian imports that begins July 1.

Hollande, a Socialist, defeated Nicolas Sarkozy, with whom Obama developed a close working relationship in dealing with issues from Libya to Iran to Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told reporters Thursday that Obama and Hollande will need "to work through" some issues, such as France's commitments in Afghanistan, "I at this point frankly see a good relationship building between us already," Donilon said.

Hollande has promised during his presidential campaign to withdraw French combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2012.

His expected announcement to pull France's 3,300 troops out of Afghanistan two years ahead of schedule could cause upset at the forthcoming NATO summit in Chicago.

The G-8 includes the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. The European Union also has two seats. This will be the first G8 for Hollande as well as for Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Japan's prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was sworn in this month, is not to attend and is instead sending Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Source: Europe News.Net