Jun 24 08:22 PM US/Eastern
TORONTO, June 24 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan arrived in Canada on Thursday night to attend two major summit meetings where he will discuss with other leaders a range of issues from development and security to fiscal consolidation for the first time in his current capacity.
Kan, who took office earlier this month, will participate in the two- day Group of Eight summit through Saturday in the resort town of Huntsville, about 200 kilometers north of Toronto in the Muskoka region.
On Friday, Kan and his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States will spend most of their time on development issues, most notably those related to the health of women and children, according to officials involved in summit negotiations.
The leaders are planning to commit some additional funds to minimize maternal and infant mortality rates in developing countries under the "Muskoka initiative," the officials said.
Reducing deaths of children under 5 years of age by two-thirds and women during pregnancy by three-quarters until 2015 is part of the eight Millennium Development Goals, agreed on in 2000 by U.N. member states.
Progress on holding down maternal and infant mortality rates is especially lagging. With only five years left until the deadline, the G-8 leaders are hoping to build up momentum toward achieving the goals, the officials said.
The leaders will also likely exchange views on the latest conditions of the global economy, but not so much in detail even if they do so, as the Group of 20, formed by the G-8 and emerging heavyweights, is now designated as the primary forum for economic cooperation, the officials said.
The two-day G-20 summit will kick off Saturday night in Toronto, where topics such as fiscal consolidation, sustainable and balanced growth, and financial sector reform will top the agenda.
The outcome of the G-8 leaders' discussions on the economy is unlikely to be reflected much in a joint statement to be released by the G-20 leaders.
As for the G-8 summit, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who chairs the event this year, and seven other leaders have opted to engage in frank discussions in lieu of spending a good deal of time seeking new agreements or working on a joint communique, the officials said.
Their communique, excluding annexes, will be no more than several pages and will touch almost entirely on development and security issues, one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.
As part of discussions on development issues, the G-8 leaders will also hold outreach sessions with some leaders from Africa and Latin America on Friday.
On Saturday morning, the leaders will try to coordinate their positions on grave threats to world order, which include the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, and conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East.
Rising tension on the divided Korean Peninsula following the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March is also expected to be among major agenda items.
Japan and the United States are hoping to agree with the other G-8 countries on a concerted approach to the sinking, which was blamed on North Korea when the results of a multinational investigation were released last month.
But some of the officials said it is unclear to what extent the leaders would be able to address the sinking, in which 46 sailors died, as Russia has so far been lukewarm about rebuking North Korea.
South Korea has referred the Cheonan sinking to the U.N. Security Council, but China and Russia, two of the five veto-holding permanent members, have voiced reservations about the outcome of the investigation.
Russia is currently conducting its own probe into the incident and its outcome will not be ready when the G-8 leaders are in Canada.
During his stay in and around Toronto, Kan will also hold bilateral talks with his counterparts from Canada, China, Germany, Russia, South Korea and the United States, according to Japanese officials.
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