(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) US President Barack Obama arrived in Brussels Wednesday afternoon to attend the G7 summit of the seven most-industrialized countries, alongside Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK.
The two-day summit is being hosted for the first time by the European Union, represented by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who both held a joint pre-summit press conference here this afternoon.
"The crisis in Ukraine and Russia's actions are the very reason for the G7 Brussels summit - instead of the originally planned G8 summit in Sochi," Van Rompuy told the press conference.
On the 24th of March in The Hague - in the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit - the leaders of the G7 unanimously decided to "suspend our participation in the G8 until Russia changes course and the environment comes back to where the G8 is able to have a meaningful discussion", he noted.
On his part, Barroso said "Ukraine's energy security is a very important party for us. We agreed that energy should not be used as a political weapon." "This G7 summit should be firm and encourage Russia to lay down this weapon," he added.
The summit begins this evening with a dinner at which foreign policy issues including Ukraine will be discussed. International development will also be discussed at the dinner.
Syria, Afghanistan, Mali, the Central African Republic and North Korea are also on the agenda.
On Thursday the focus will fall on economy with discussions on the free trade deal between the US and the EU.
After the Brussels summit, the G7 leaders will travel to Normandy for events to mark the D-Day landings by the Allies that took place seventy years ago.
Stringent security measures are in place in Brussels which have led to disruption on the main Brussels roads. Parts of the EU district around Schuman are closed.
Earlier today, Van Rompuy and Barroso had a joint meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. In the afternoon, Barroso met the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
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