WASHINGTON/OTTAWA, 22 June — International cooperation in the war on terrorism is expected to figure prominently at the Group of Eight summit in Canada next week.

US President George W. Bush will present world leaders with a mixed review of progress against international terrorism that stunned the world on Sept. 11.

Washington will urged its fellow G-8 powers — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia — to work more closely together to combat Al-Qaeda, the network belonging to Sept. 11 chief suspect Osama Bin Laden, and other groups bent on mass destruction.

The summit will also focus its attention on improving overall economic and social conditions of African states, according to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

"The objective is to put back Africa on the map of the world," the prime minister told the House of Commons Thursday. The two-day conference of the rich Group of Eight states will be inaugurated on June 26.

Chretien said that he plans to keep the focus on Africa, though many have suggested that it may move to the war on terror or difficulties in the Middle East. "Nothing will alter the meetings," he said.

Ottawa’s seriousness to help Africa could be judged from the fact that the government announced on Wednesday $34.2 million in humanitarian assistance to drought hit southern Africa where around 16 million people are suffering from food shortages.

Meanwhile, a broad coalition of Canadian church groups says Jean Chretien’s new proposed plan to help Africa is unlikely to succeed because it is based on the same G-8’s ‘misguided policies’ that have caused economic and social ruin in Africa.

The coalition urged Chretien and other leaders at the Kananaskis summit to repay Africa for damage done by "failed G-8 policies,’’ and broken promises to cancel the debts of the world’s poorest countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin too flies to next week’s summit aiming to prove Russia has a bigger world role to play than merely supporting Washington’s war on terrorism.

Putin will attend nearly all events at the summit at Kananaskis in the Rocky Mountains, underscoring what Russian officials say is vast progress in 10 years of post-Soviet change and a remarkable turnaround from a 1998 economic collapse.

The Kremlin leader, visibly proud that the body is now named G-8 to reflect Russia’s full-fledged membership, will seek his partners’ help to secure a place in other bodies, particularly membership of the World Trade Organization.

And having hosted a high-profile summit with US President George W. Bush and overseen Russian membership of a new 20-member Russia-NATO council, he will press home Moscow’s dream of hosting a G-8 summit — as all members do on a rotating basis.

Russia’s economic progress has won some recognition. Tough lobbying prompted both the United States and the European Union to grant "market economy" to Russia, a move that will ease trade barriers for Russian goods.

Russia has portrayed itself as a reliable energy supplier given the volatility of the Middle East. Putin and Bush agreed to consider increased shipments to the United States and YUKOS , Russia’s second largest oil company, has already sent a large crude carrier to the United States.

Joining WTO appears a tougher aim despite assurances from its head Mike Moore, that this could happen next year. Talks on Russian accession this week bogged down over liberalization of sectors like banking, insurance and telecommunications.

Putin has been fairly blunt in assessing Russia’s economy. He acknowledges that one in four Russians lives below the poverty line and urges ministers to abandon what he derides as modest growth targets of four percent and press for performances liable to vault Russia into the same league as western Europe.

Meanwhile, Russia reported a 22.8-percent contraction yesterday in its trade surplus in the first four months of the year to $13.914 billion (14.47 billion euros) compared with the figure for the same period of 2001.

The value of imports rose 10.5 percent to $17.3 billion while exports declined 7.3 percent in value to $31.2 billion, the state statistics committee reported.