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SYDNEY - US President George W. Bush and Australia's Prime Minister John Howard meet beside Sydney Harbour today to discuss progress in Iraq and a new defence deal ahead of an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit.
After a morning of talks, the staunch allies planned lunch with Australian troops and sailors as anti-war activists sought a court order to overturn police restrictions on mass weekend protests against Bush's visit and the Iraq war.
Bush arrived to tight security in Sydney on Tuesday after a lightning visit to Iraq where mentioned possible US troop cuts if security improved.
Trade and climate change top the agenda at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum summit, and Bush wants the group's 21 economies to agree to a strongly worded pledge to reinvigorate the Doha round of world trade talks.
But Iraq and a looming report to the US Congress on the progress of the 30,000-strong troop surge hangs over Bush's visit to Australia, whose troop contribution is featuring prominently in Prime Minister John Howard's re-election bid.
Ahead of Bush and Howard's meeting to agree on a new security pact to give Australia more access to secret US military technology, Howard's deputy said Australia would keep its soldiers in Iraq despite popular pressure for their withdrawal.
"Our view and our position is that we stay there till the job's done and that's until the Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi government can take control of security in Iraq," Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile told Australian television.
Bush and Howard were to be joined by senior defence and foreign affairs advisers ahead of lunch with troops and a dinner at Kirribilli House, the prime minister's harbour-side residence facing Sydney's Opera House.
Australia has about 1500 troops in and around Iraq. Howard's rival Kevin Rudd has vowed to pull non-essential troops from Iraq if he wins an election expected before November.
Howard and Bush were to also discuss trade, North Korea and the rise of China, whose President Hu Jintao is also in Australia for the Apec summit. Hu was on Wednesday to visit a sheep farm near the Australian capital Canberra.
Bush, before arriving in Sydney, denied the United States had been neglecting Asia, creating a vacuum that China would take advantage of.
"The answer is absolutely not. This is a summit of nations that share the same values, same concerns about the world in which we live and we'll discuss a variety of topics, including North Korea," Bush told reporters on Air Force One after leaving Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq to head to Sydney.
Anti-war protesters went to the state Supreme Court in Sydney on Wednesday in a bid to overturn police controls on a planned protest march expected to draw up to 20,000 demonstrators on Saturday.
State police have barred "Stop Bush Coalition" marchers from walking through a pedestrian plaza in the city centre, which has been ringed by a steel-and-concrete wall to protect world leaders meeting at the Opera House and nearby venues.
- REUTERS
