Authorities sealed off Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, with demonstrations relegated to the island's largest city of Sapporo where four people were arrested Saturday.

 

US President George W. Bush on Sunday flew into Sapporo airport, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from here, and held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda ahead of the meeting of the club of the world's rich nations.

 

Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised nations will Monday begin three days of annual talks in the mountain resort town of Toyako that will be dominated by the fragile world economy and global warming.

 

Security was formidable across the picturesque region, with around 21,000 police deployed to protect the leaders as they huddle in a luxury hilltop hotel in a bid to solve the world's most pressing problems.

 

"The participants this year will discuss global issues, including the immediate dangers posed by the soaring prices of crude oil and foodstuffs as well as climate change," Fukuda said in a statement.

 

"They will also discuss international assistance to African development and the dual threats to world peace posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism."

 

The leaders of the G8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia and the United States -- will be joined by those of some 15 other countries including China, India, Brazil, Australia and eight African states for expanded sessions on global warming and poverty alleviation.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the G8 leaders would agree on steps to fight the soaring price of food and to guarantee supplies.

 

"A vast catalogue of measures to guarantee food supplies worldwide" is expected to be adopted, Merkel told the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag.

 

The steps will provide short-term relief to the crisis and a long-term strategy to increase world agricultural production.

 

Japanese press reports have said the G8 would likely agree to set up a task force on the food crisis or create a system of food reserves much like oil reserves.

 

Aid groups warned that record food and oil prices should not be allowed to derail the leaders' talks on Africa on Monday as the crisis had simply worsened the plight of the poor.

 

"Rapidly rising costs of oil and food might cause pain in rich countries but it is shattering people's lives and entire economies in developing countries," said Takumo Yamada of Oxfam.

 

On Wednesday, climate change will top the agenda when an expanded group of nations meets.

 

The leaders are expected to pledge to spearhead efforts to halve emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 after agreeing a year ago to "consider seriously" that goal.

 

The Yomiuri Shimbun said negotiations were in the final stages for a leaders' declaration, saying "the G8 will take the lead in making efforts to halve" emissions or something similar.

 

But several officials had earlier predicted that no significant progress would be made, with Bush arguing that the summit is not the right forum to make hard decisions on climate change including setting emissions targets.

 

The G8 leaders' final statement is also expected to "strongly condemn" Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe following his re-election in a June 27 election that has been widely denounced as a sham, the White House said.

 

Merkel said in a video statement that the leaders would discuss "how to tighten the sanctions against Zimbabwe" and called for support from African nations.

 

While Hokkaido will mark Bush's G8 swansong, it will be the first for Fukuda, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.

 

Major leaders from the developing world, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Thabo Mbeki, will also attend G8 events.

 

 

 

Security officials hoist the flags of participating nations during preparations at the venue of the G8 Summit