Mr Blair is visiting four capitals in 48 hours

The UK prime minister was speaking after securing the backing of Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

He said "hard negotiations" were still ahead on both issues, but a recent debt relief deal reached by G8 ministers had been a "good omen" for the summit.

It was his first stop in a 48 hour tour also taking in Paris and Berlin.

Democracy call

He arrived in Germany later on Monday and will hold talks with leaders in France and Luxembourg on Tuesday.

He is aiming to secure agreement on plans for aid to Africa and climate change ahead of the summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in July.

On climate change, the idea is that we develop now a plan for the future that allows us to grow our economies in an environmentally sustainable way, and that idea is really gathering support Tony Blair

Mr Putin said he supported the UK's plans to write-off African debt, although he said this must be done in conjunction with the development of democracy in those countries.

France and Germany have already agreed to double aid to the poorest countries.

On Saturday, they were among the world's richest countries which agreed to write off the debt owed by 18 mainly African countries.

Last week, Mr Blair secured a pledge from US President George W Bush on debt relief. But they failed to agree on taking action against climate change.

Optimistic

The US has consistently refused to ratify the Kyoto treaty, which restricts the emissions of gases said to be responsible for global warming.

But Mr Blair has voiced optimism of progress on this issue.

"On climate change, the idea is that we develop now a plan for the future that allows us to grow our economies in an environmentally sustainable way, and that idea is really gathering support," he said.

Reality being reality the prospect of the European Council will have an impact on the talks Tony Blair's spokesman Blair firm over UK rebate

Mr Putin described Mr Blair's views on climate change as "very close to our approach".

He said that after years of wavering, Russia was now behind the Kyoto agreement, and in a swipe at the US said "it is also important to work with those countries that did not accede to this process".

He said that he supported the UK's attempts to outlaw African debt "on the whole", but added that he would also like to see some attention paid to cutting the heavy debt burden still faced by several former Soviet republics.

Russia takes over the chair of the G8 group of advanced countries at the end of the year.

Firm but fair?

While the focus of the European tour is the G8 summit, Mr Blair has failed to escape from the shadow of the current battle over the British EU rebate.

All other EU leaders think the UK's rebate should be cut but on Sunday after lengthy talks, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said its critics were "deluded" if they believed the rebate was the issue behind the EU's problems.

Mr Blair said he would be "firm" over Britain's �3bn rebate, although he added that it could not be up for discussion unless "we discuss the whole of the financing of the EU".

It may be a sign of the tension to come, BBC political correspondent John Pienaar reports, that so far the French have made no plans for a joint news conference after the two leaders meet in Paris.