ENNISKILLEN
G8 summit will bring together world powers at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland for a two-day meeting on Monday and Tuesday, where they are expected to discuss recent developments in the more than two-year-long Syrian conflict.
The meeting, hosted by the UK, will see high-level representation from France, the US, the UK, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Sunday in a bilateral meeting. The UK and Russia could overcome differences of opinion on Syria, Cameron said in a press conference.
Both the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition had "bloods in their hands", Russian President Putin said, whose country continues to provide arms to the embattled regime and rejects claims by the US, Germany and France that Assad's forces used chemical weapons, which US President Barack Obama earlier said would mean "crossing the red line".
The summit is not expected to produce a workable resolution on the conflict, which UN says has killed at least 93,000, but is regarded as an important venue for world leaders in their search for common ground, AA correspondent reports.
The two-day forum will have the member states also discuss economy, fight against terrorism and taxing, he says.
The UK will hand over the rotating G8 presidency to Russia in 2014. G8 countries account for 14% of the world population, and has a total share of 65% in the global economy.
