German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet U.S. President George W. Bush next week in order to forge an agreement on climate change at the forthcoming G8 summit, German government sources said Monday.

She planned to meet Bush immediately before the summit of Group of Eight industrialized nations meet at Heiligendamm, Germany on June 6-8, German news agency DPA quoted government sources as reporting.

A new round of talks will be held this week between high officials from the eight nations in a attempt to bridge last minute differences.

The United States raised objections to a proposed declaration on global warming to be issued during the summit hosted by Merkel.

The sources said the negotiations were extremely difficult, but said they had not been broken down, adding Germany is still pushing for concessions.

The German government has taken the fight against climate change one of the priorities of Germany's presidencies of the Group of Eight (G-8) and European Union.

Comments on a document released by the environmental group Greenpeace said the United States is preparing to block a declaration on climate change at the summit.

The G-8 includes Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the United States.

On the same day, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel and visiting U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for rapid action to combat the dangers brought about by climate change.

They said after talks in Berlin that the American public opinion on the issue was further advanced than that of the Bush administration.

Gabriel said his country would continue to make efforts to see that the United States "lives up to its international responsibilities" on global warming.

Source: Xinhua