By Andrew Walker BBC economics correspondent in Savannah, Georgia

The US will be leading the way in many of the discussions

The handover of sovereignty in Iraq inevitably looms large at this year's summit.

But these events used to be called "the economic summit" and those concerns are very much there this time as well.

This year, the context for the discussions on the global economy is a recovery that has gathered strength since they met in Evian in France twelve months ago.

The really poor year was 2001. Some (though not the International Monetary Fund) say that was a global recession. Two years of modest recovery followed.

Now the momentum is building. Within the G8, it is led by the US.

Praise for Japan

Japan is also showing increasing evidence that it is at last emerging from more than a decade of economic weakness.

Japan certainly seems to have impressed President Bush. A senior US official said he is likely to congratulate the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the recovery.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will be congratulated

Mr Bush is also going to say that it's critically important that others take steps to stimulate growth and job creation.

No names, but it's clear that he has in mind mainly three European Union members of the G8 - Germany, France and Italy.

He will be arguing the case for economic reforms, to reduce inefficient regulation, reform pension systems in countries with ageing populations and to make labour markets less rigid - that is, to make it easier for business to hire, and, if necessary, to fire workers.

Oil and trade

And what about the price of oil, which many analysts regards as the biggest threat to the global economic outlook? It's not specifically on the agenda, though one of the G8 leaders might well raise it.

The US view is that an affordable and adequate energy supply is essential for prosperity, though they don't specify a particular price level.

And they welcome the decision taken last week by the producers' cartel, Opec, to increase oil supplies.

The leaders will also discuss the negotiations underway in the World Trade Organisation. Those talks came to grief at a meeting last September in Cancun in Mexico, and have made only a little progress since.

The US believes that the G8 has a special responsibility to give a lead in these talks to achieve an ambitious agreement. The objective is a deal that sweeps away many barriers to international commerce.

Progress has been slow in large part because of the agricultural policies of G8 members which most of the rest of the world wants reformed.

The US is also keen to promote its vision for tackling poverty in the developing world, a vision which has a central role for private business.