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    ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he expects the G8 leaders to reach an agreement on all the key topics on the agenda of their annual summit which is to kick off Saturday.

    Meeting with members of youth organizations from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the United States, Britain, Russia, as well as Egypt, Putin said the leaders' resolutions were traditionally prepared over the course of the whole year before the summit.

    "Our experts have already coordinated the basic issues," the president said.

    Though it may seem the leaders only have to formalize agreements already drawn up by experts, decisions are sometimes changed in the course of summit discussions.

    Putin said he would like the summit participants to hold an active discussion and reach an understanding on all the key issues, not just read and sign (documents) prepared by experts.

    Russia, which hosts for the first time a G8 summit in St. Petersburg this weekend, said global energy security would be one of three key issues on the summit agenda, along with education and the fight against infectious diseases. Enditem