"I won't hide the fact that negotiations are currently very difficult" on climate change, one of the G8 summit's key agenda items, Chirac was quoted as telling a preparatory roundtable meeting of French officials in Paris, according to an official working document.

"I'm not optimistic," he said.

One of the sticking points derives from the opposing approaches by Europe and the United States over the Kyoto protocol on climate change.

Europe has adopted the text, which calls for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, while US President George W. Bush's administration has refused to ratify it, saying it is ineffective and unnecessary.

Chirac said France was holding out for a "clear mention" of the protocol in the G8 summit's final joint statement and a recognition that fighting global warming was urgent.

At the same time, the president said world economic growth was "weakened by deep imbalances", in particular caused by the high price of oil, which acts as a brake on industrial output.

Other problems stemmed from "erratic currency trading movements, company relocations abroad which are accelerating... these pose a real problem for managing the world today."

Leaders of the G8 leading industrialised countries are to meet in Gleneagles, Scotland on July 6-8.

The G8 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.