Loan Adviser

Friction between the U.S. and Canada precede the onset of the G8 ministerial meeting

However, it is expected that during the meeting of the Group of Eight (G8), which will be more focused on Iran”s nuclear issues and in working against terrorism, Washington and Ottawa most-watched show.

Secretary of U.S. Department of State, Hillary Clinton traveled to Ottawa in the morning to attend a meeting organized by the Canadian Arctic countries, pre-meeting of G8 ministers.

At that meeting, Clinton expressed concern about the consequences of climate change and stressed that what happens in the Arctic “will have broad implications for the Earth”s climate.”

“The disappearance of ice shelves, glaciers and permafrost will affect people and ecosystems worldwide,” he said.

The problem in this event were the absences . The Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, had invited his counterparts from U.S., Russia, Denmark and Norway at the meeting on the Arctic.

But other countries with interests in the Arctic, such as Sweden, Finland and Iceland, as well as representatives of Inuit groups were excluded from the meeting and have protested against this.

These absences sparked criticism from Clinton to Canada, which resulted in his refusal to go along with Cannon at the press conference at the end of the meeting between the five countries.

According to the American diplomat, meeting as the Ottawa “should include those who have legitimate interests in the region.”

The Arctic should serve to work together and not to promote division, said.

Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister denied that the absences were a problem because the meeting was planned for the countries with coasts on the Arctic and recalled that the nations that were in Ottawa do not form part of the Arctic Council is meets every two years.

noted that the region has huge reserves of raw materials (an estimated one fifth of world oil reserves are in the Arctic) will be progressively easier to exploit global warming, so that coastal countries have to cooperate more closely.

Canadian minister also used1000the press conference to launch an attack on the European Union and the advocacy groups, animal rights, as opposed to commercial hunting of seals and polar bears that are made in Canada.

“Some have offered an ill-informed advice on the governance of our people , our lands and our waters, and have demonstrated a lack of sensitivity to the interests of states and peoples of the Arctic, “he said.

Cannon and Clinton will meet again in the night today at a working dinner with the other G8 countries (Germany, France, Russia, Britain, Italy and Japan), in which the main course will be increased pressure on Iran to cease its enrichment activities uranium.

This topic, Ottawa and Washington appear to be in more harmony. Canada has said from the outset that the G8 should agree to harsh economic sanctions against the Tehran regime for its approval by the Security Council of the UN, with the potential threat posed by Iranian nuclear program.

“We have no choice but to seek new sanctions against Iran,” Cannon said Friday.

Approval of the sanctions, the G8 ministers could be defined in the next few hours, requires the consent of Russia and China, two countries close to Iran and that they have a veto in the Security Council.

Moscow has hinted that they might be willing to adopt a new round of sanctions tougher on Iran.

Just today”s attacks in Moscow, where at least 38 people were killed when two suicide bombs exploded in the Moscow metro, have caused that, besides Iran, the weight of the G8 meeting turn into security issues and counterterrorism.

The U.S. has already indicated that ministers should use this meeting to discuss strengthening the coordination and international cooperation against terrorism.

The meeting is scheduled to expire at noon on Tuesday, after the G8 ministers devote the morning to discussions on the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Yemen and Afghanistan, among other topics.