Obama takes step over the line that separates government from private industry

FACTBOX: Obama's presidential debut on world stage

Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:56am EDT

 

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will make his debut on the world stage this week with his first major foreign trip since taking office on January 20.

Here are some details of his travels plus his objectives for each leg:

G20 SUMMIT - LONDON

Obama's first stop: an April 2 summit of the Group of 20 top economies, a follow-up to a meeting hosted by predecessor George W. Bush, to tackle the global economic crisis.

Obama, who has pledged to repair America's image abroad after eight contentious years under Bush, will set the tone for his administration's relations with the rest of the world even as he is tested in his first encounter with global summitry.

He "is going to listen in London, as well as to lead," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

In the final run-up to the trip, Obama's aides seemed to back away from earlier calls for other G20 countries to act quickly to ramp up spending to match the United States. The White House said Obama would not seek specific commitments.

European leaders, reluctant to build up more debt, had already spurned the idea and made clear they wanted to make a top priority of overhauling global financial regulations.

Obama will meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday before the summit. Talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will be watched for how he handles two world powers whose relations with Washington have often been tense.