Leaders of the world's top industrialised countries are assembling at Gleneagles, Scotland today for a G8 summit already marred by protests.
Canada's Prime Minister, Paul Martin, was the first of the leaders to arrive at Gleneagles, having been greeted at Prestwick Airport by Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell.
US President George Bush - on his birthday - has also arrived, as has Russian president Vladamir Putin. The last of the G8 leaders to arrive will be French President Jacques Chirac who flies in this evening after leading Paris's unsuccessful pitch for the 2012 Olympics in Singapore.
The British Prime Minister Tony Blair himself flew overnight from Singapore where he had been leading London's 2012 bid.
Mr Blair wants the twin focus of the G8 agenda to be lifting Africa out of poverty and tackling climate change.
His official spokesman has acknowledged talks on global warming would go "down to the wire", with Mr Bush reported to be the sticking point as officials seek to thrash out a text he can agree to.
The leaders are expected to rubber-stamp agreement on writing off more than $40 billion in debt to 18 mainly sub-Saharan African states, with another 20 countries potentially eligible later.
Aid agencies say even that will do little to overcome Africa's problems. They argue that 62 countries need 100 percent debt relief if they are to meet the goals agreed at the United Nations of halving poverty and disease by 2015.
Critics also expect little of substance on climate change, deriding as insufficient the US reliance on technological solutions to global warming rather than the emissions caps agreed by other G8 countries under the Kyoto protocol.
Mr Bush, in a new emphasis in US policy, acknowledged more loudly than before that humans were to blame for harmful climate change and that it was in Washington's interests to respond.
"Listen, I recognise the surface of the Earth is warmer, and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem," he told a news conference during a visit to Denmark on his way to the G8 summit.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has insisted that the G8 be seen to act over oil prices. But there were few concrete measures in the draft declaration, which is expected to be changed little by the leaders in their discussions.
The draft says the G8 objects to high oil prices and wants clear information on oil reserves to counter speculation in the markets that may damage global economic growth. Oil prices rose to a record of $60.95 a barrel last week, driven by high demand, notably from China.
The summit officially begins with dinner today, hosted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth.