Leaders braced for 'challenging' talks as Trump factor looms large

TAORMINA, Italy - A two-day summit of leaders from the G7 industrialized nations kicked off on Friday in the Italian town of Taormina.

The summit started with a ceremony at an ancient Greek theater perched on a cliff overlooking the sea where war ships patrolled the sparkling blue waters.

The heads of state from the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States, plus the EU were expected to talk about a common response to international terrorism.

The topic was pushed to the top of the agenda after a suicide bomber claimed at least 22 lives and wounded dozens in the British city of Manchester on Monday.

G7 host Italy was expected to table the issues of migration and the need for investments in Africa as one way to reverse the exodus of people fleeing war and destitution.

In terms of long-term policies, G7 leaders were also expected to talk about sustainable growth and development.

According to local media, US President Donald Trump, who attended his first G7 summit, was the unknown quantity due to his protectionist views on trade, his outspoken stance against immigration, and his avowed intention to invest in fossil fuels, thus rolling back the clock on climate change.

"No doubt, this will be the most challenging G7 summit in years," European Council President Donald Tusk said before the meeting.

The meeting was scheduled to end on Saturday, with leaders expected to come up with some kind of joint statement. It remains to be seen whether they will find consensus.

Taormina is in lockdown since Monday, and tough security measures and restrictions will remain in force until after the summit closure, with about 9,000 police and military officers deployed in the area.

It was the final leg of a nine-day tour for Trump which started in the Middle East.

On Thursday in Brussels, with NATO leaders standing alongside him, he accused members of the alliance of owing "massive amounts of money" to the US and NATO - even though allied contributions are voluntary.

Trump, who has often complained back home about other nations' NATO support, lectured the other leaders in person this time, declaring: "Many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years."

Fellow leaders occasionally exchanged awkward looks with each other during the lecture. When Trump tried to lighten the mood with a joke about NATO's gleaming new home base, saying "I never asked once what the new NATO Headquarters cost", there was no laughter from his counterparts.

Xinhua - Reuters - Ap