Obama’s G20: being President just got heavier

President Barack Obama arrived in London last night for a series of meetings today with other world leaders, including his host Gordon Brown, ahead of this evening's official start to the G20 summit with a reception at Buckingham Palace. After the all-day summit on Thursday, he will travel on to Strasbourg, Prague and Ankara.

What the G20 countries' leaders can achieve in terms of a unified approach to the global financial meltdown looks less and less certain. But what the visit can achieve for Obama himself, in terms of establishing his relationships with other world leaders, is a different matter...

With Gordon Brown: The British PM was the first to visit the White House following Obama's inauguration, and it did not go as well as hoped. Reginald Dale of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told the BBC that Obama's cool approach towards Brown - no joint press conference, no red carpet - suggested he may not have an "instinctive feel" for America's relationship with Britain and a wider Europe.

Yet the two men are united - against considerable opposition among some EU leaders - in their belief that major public spending programmes can help lift their countries out of the recession. Their breakfast meeting today at Number 10 is the chance to put a potential friendship

back on track.

With Chinese President Hu Jintao: One of Obama's heaviest-duty meetings. The health of the two countries' economies is inextricably tied, with the US being the biggest debtor nation and China the world's biggest creditor. China is concerned about the safety of its huge dollar assets and is advocating radical change: the governor of the Chinese central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, wants to replace the US dollar as the world's reserve currency with a system of special 'drawing rights' administered by the IMF, incorporating the yen, the euro and sterling, as well as the US dollar.

Also on the agenda is North Korea's threat to test nuclear missiles and the running sores of Taiwan and Tibet.

With Russian President Dmitry Medvedev: The Russians have been getting cosier with the Germans under Medvedev's leadership: at a joint press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, he and Angela Merkel called for "the creation of a new financial architecture."

But the larger issue between Medvedev and Obama, in terms of world peace, is the need to get going on a new long-range nuclear missiles treaty, to replace the START 1 pact that expires this year. "Nobody should expect a 'Bush heart-to-heart with Putin' kind of experience," Sarah Mendelson, a CSIS Russia expert told Reuters. "These guys don't operate that way."

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel: This is a tricky one: a warm hug would be hypocritical, a cold stare unworldly. Merkel has made it clear ahead of the summit that she will not sign up to a massive global stimulus package."I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money," she said earlier this month. And the Germans have also refused America's request for more troops in Afghanistan, an issue that will come up in Strasbourg at the weekend.

With the EU president, Mirek Topolanek of the Czech Republic: Ditto. He has described Obama's high-public-spending economic strategy as a "road to hell". And he represents several European leaders who believe it was America and its banks that got us into this mess.

With the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy: Another pesky European who has threatened to walk out of the G20 if there is any dilution of the strict economic regulations he wants put in place. There is always the suspicion with Sarko that he's all mouth and no trousers. At least he's not bringing his model-turned-singer wife Carla, who has a habit of taking over photo ops and upsetting the plainer wives.

With Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi: A cold handshake would be perfectly in order: this is the man who said of the election of America's first black president: "He's young, handsome and tanned" and then complained that the world had no sense of humour.

With Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey may not be in the EU yet, but it plays a major role in Nato and its President Abdullah Gul is hosting talks today between Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan in an effort to improve security in the region. Obama will support Turkey's bid for EU membership - in the face of German opposition to the idea.

With India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: As with the Chinese, the sheer size of India' economy makes the nation a key player today. And after the Mumbai terror attack, Obama will want to discuss regional security, especially on the Afghan-Pakistani border. Reports from Delhi say Singh will tell Obama that "there can be no distinction between good Talibans and bad Talibans."

With the Queen of England: This is the big one - it doesn't matter what small talk they share in private before tonight's Buckingham Palace reception, or whether the Duke of Edinburgh puts his foot in it, the pictures of the leader of the free world side by side with the most photographed woman in the world are what will count on TV tonight across the world and especially back home. Gordon Brown will be history in 12 months or so, either beaten by David Cameron's Tories, or replaced by his party. The Queen will still be here.

The G20 countries represented at the summit are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the US and the EU.