Obama in Warsaw for more meetings

WARSAW, Poland, May 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama touched down in Warsaw, Poland, in Air Force One Friday for more meetings after the Group of Eight summit in France.

Obama was scheduled to have dinner with Central European leaders Friday and meet with those leaders Saturday to discuss Europe in the post-Cold War era, the White House said.

Obama played the leadership role at the G8 summit in Deauville, France, on the "Arab Spring," a senior administration official said Friday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Obama, in his participation in the summit at Deauville, "set the groundwork for this meeting [that] was really quite substantial."

"The speech that he gave on the Middle East and North Africa, on the Arab Spring, last week, which laid out our approach to democratic and economic reform in the region, as you probably have seen, has been largely echoed in what the G8 is coming out with or will be coming out with in terms of the economic strategy towards the region."

"Arab Spring" refers to widespread protests in the Middle East and North Africa.

Obama's ideas on peace for North Africa and "the issues that he talked about regarding the Middle East peace process were warmly welcomed in this group, often cited by other leaders, and helped give context to the discussion here around those issues," the official said.

Tunisian leaders told the G8 they will need $5 billion a year in aid, part of a five-year plan, the official said. Egyptian leaders said they would need $9 billion to $12 billion over one year, he said.

The U.S. official said French President Nicolas Sarkozy was "impressive" in managing the summit. "He's ... actively managed the discussion in terms of pulling things out of people, pointing out differences where they exist and managing the discussion."

Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters during Obama's flight from Paris to another meeting in Poland that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the U.S. president Thursday Russia would share information with the United States about its conversations with the Moammar Gadhafi government and the opposition in Libya.

Medvedev said Russia is committed to seeing Gadhafi leave power.

Sarkozy and Obama agreed Friday on the urgency of Mideast peace and their demand for Gadhafi to give up.

Sarkozy called the U.S. president's speech last week "on the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians … clear-sighted and bold."

Obama said, "We agreed that the changes that are taking place in the Middle East and North Africa make the pursuit of peace between Israelis and Palestinians more urgent, not less."

The U.S. leader, backed by Sarkozy, also said, "Meeting the U.N. mandate of civilian protection cannot be accomplished when Gadhafi remains in Libya, directing his forces in acts of aggression against the Libyan people. And we are joined in resolve to finish the job."

Obama would not say whether he supports the French candidate to take over the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.