EU, US leaders at Camp David for G8 Summit

US President Barack Obama (R) welcomes French President Francois Hollande at the G8 summit in Camp David

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/19/241945/g8-summit-kicks-off-in-us/

US President Barack Obama has greeted leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations at the 38th G8 Summit at Camp David in the US state of Maryland.

The summit officially began on Friday, with the Greek and eurozone crises being at the top of the list of topics to be discussed by G8 leaders during the closed-door summit.

Rising oil prices in world markets are also on the agenda for the leaders of the world’s biggest economies.

Meanwhile, Obama and several other leaders have expressed support for newly elected French President Francois Hollande’s calls for turning to growth as a resolution to the ongoing economic crisis rather than imposing further austerity measures, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pushed for.

Former French head of state Nicolas Sarkozy also supported austerity.

The G8 leaders are trying to come up with ways to keep Greece within the eurozone.

This is while growing political and economic turmoil in Greece has led to mounting concerns among eurozone financial ministers that Athens would not comply with the austerity measures it agreed to with its European neighbors in exchange for endorsement of a second financial bailout, and would finally have to leave the bloc.

Latest statistics show that the Greek economy has lost 6.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Greece could go bankrupt by the end of June if international lenders refuse to prop the country up with a EUR-130-billion bailout fund to keep it afloat and inside the eurozone.

The Group of Eight includes the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US.