Alpine meeting for Brown and Sarkozy
By politics.co.uk staff
Gordon Brown has met with French president Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of this week’s G8 summit.
The prime minister flew to Evian this morning for the bilateral meeting in the run-up to the L’Aquila summit, which begins on Wednesday.
The pair agreed to stand “shoulder to shoulder” at the G8 as they set out their determination to ensure development and climate change goals are “far-sighted”.
Also high up on the agenda was the economy. Mr Brown said: “We have a duty to our populations to do what we can to maintain jobs and create new jobs in difficult times.
“President Sarkozy and I share a vision of a better future. It is a partnership based on shared values.”
Burma and Iran were also discussed. Mr Brown expressed his gratitude for French support after Tehran arrested nine embassy staff.
Immigration was also a pressing issue. Last week the United Nations’ refugee agency opened an office in Calais to monitor the growing problem.
The summit was a follow-up to Mr Sarkozy’s state visit to Britain in spring 2008, where he and Mr Brown established an “entente amicale” between the two countries.
