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[h=4]Obama attends G-7 summit in Germany[/h]President Obama on Sunday joined leaders of the world's major industrial economies for a two-day summit in Bavaria where the diplomatic discussions were expected to be dominated by the simmering conflict in eastern Ukraine and Greece's last-minute attempts to resolve its debt crisis.
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President Obama is calling the current partnership between the U.S. and Germany "one of the strongest alliances the world has ever known." (June 7) AP
President Obama waves as he is welcomed by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel upon arrival at a breakfast meeting with local citizens in Kruen near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, on June 7, 2015 .(Photo: Robert Michael, AFP/Getty Images)
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — President Obama on Sunday joined leaders of the world's major industrial economies for a two-day summit in Bavaria where the diplomatic discussions were expected to be dominated by the simmering conflict in eastern Ukraine and Greece's last-minute attempts to resolve its debt crisis.
Leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan attended the Group of Seven, or G-7, meetings in Germany's Alpine region near the border with Austria. The European Union is also represented. Russia is excluded from the talks for the second year in a row for backing Ukrainian separatists — an allegation it denies.
Greece's leader Alexis Tsipras is not at the summit.
USA TODAY
Russia left in summit cold for second year running
Obama arrived in Munich, in southern Germany, early Sunday following an overnight flight from Washington where he had been attending the funeral of Beau Biden, the vice-president's son and a former Delaware attorney general.
As the president exited Air Force One into brilliant sunshine, he was greeted by men, women and children in traditional German dress. A young boy and girl gave him flowers and he signed a guest book. A band then played an American marching song.
A German armed forces helicopter flies over the Bavarian Alps as police look on hours before the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau on June 7, 2015. The leaders of the U.S., Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada, as well as European Union leaders, are meeting to discuss global economic and security issues, as well as pressing global health-related issues.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Sean Gallup, Getty Images)
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Obama then boarded a helicopter and traveled to the mountain village of Kruen to sample local Bavarian food and culture and to meet privately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, an ally whose diplomatic patience has nevertheless been tested in recent times by revelations the National Security Agency tapped her cellphone.
"I can't think of a better place to come to celebrate the enduring friendship between the German and American people," Obama said, speaking in Kruen. "The fact that all of us are here together is proof that conflicts can end and great progress is possible."
The summit is taking place 25 years after the reunification of Germany and 70 years after World War II ended.
Amid a few joking references to lederhosen and beer — he said he forgot to bring his German leather breeches, and urged the crowd to partake of the latter — Obama said the G-7 meetings would seek to achieve consensus over standing up to Russian aggression in Ukraine, combating violent extremism, climate change and trade.
"It was a very fine beer. I wish I was staying," the president said as he was leaving Kruen.
Merkel said the U.S. was an "essential partner" for Germany but also alluded to occasional "differences of opinion."
Obama is expected to urge his counterparts to extend sanctions targeting Russia's economy and banks, even as Washington has admitted the measures have not dramatically shifted Russian President Vladimir Putin's thinking on Ukraine.
On Monday, the president will meet with Iraqi President Haider-al-Abadi, who may press the United States and its allies for more military support as his beleaguered nation struggles in the face of territorial advances by the Islamic State.
Tsipras, Greece's prime minister, has so far been unsuccessful in his attempts to break a deadlock between Greece and its creditors from the EU and International Monetary Fund. Representatives from the EU and IMF are at the summit.
Ahead of the G-7 summit, there were minor clashes between police and protesters in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a town a few miles away from the Schloss Elmau hotel where the heavily guarded event is taking place. Demonstrators said they would attempt to get closer to the summit site Sunday but with thousands of police in the area, it was not clear if that would happen.
USA TODAY
Thousands protest G-7 summit in southern Germany
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