Kananaskis, Alberta ? Leaders of the world’s most powerful countries, intent on demonstrating a united front against terrorism at their annual summit, prepared a joint plan to make air travel and cargo shipments safer.

On the eve of the economic summit’s opening, President Bush lost no time launching a campaign for his new Middle East plan in one-on-one meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

Workers cover a McDonald's sign with plastic before boarding up the front of the restaurant to protect it from potential damage before planned protests in Ottawa, Canada. The demonstrations today will coincide with the opening of the G-8 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.

“The Palestinians need new leadership, elected leadership,” Bush said in a joint appearance with Chretien. Bush stood by Israel’s increased incursions into Palestinian territory, but said, “All parties must work for peace.”

He won strong backing from Koizumi, who deemed the U.S. president’s initiative, which calls for the replacement of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a condition for creation of a Palestinian state, “proactive.”

Canada expressed reservations about the U.S. call for Arafat’s ouster.

Chretien, appearing with Bush, declined to back his demand, saying, “I don’t have a specific view on that.”

The anti-terror war topped the agenda for the Group of Eight summit set to formally begin today. Chretien, this year’s host, also hoped to devote significant attention to boosting assistance to Africa, the world’s poorest continent, although U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned against “unrealistic expectations” and “magic success.”

Underscoring the cooperative theme on terrorism, Bush signed legislation Tuesday allowing the United States to participate in two U.N. terrorism initiatives.

The White House said leaders would also issue a joint “action plan” on ways to make air travel and the transport of goods between their countries more secure, while allowing for the free flow of goods.

Before leaving Washington, Bush signed legislation allowing the United States to participate in U.N. conventions to beef up efforts to prevent terrorist bombings and to choke off the flow of money to terrorist groups.

Bush said he planned to use the G-8 summit to urge all countries to intensify their efforts against terrorism so that the world could move “toward a day when our children can live free from the fear of terrorism and free to achieve their dreams.”

This year’s summit was under intense security, with thousands of Canadian military forces deployed to protect an eight-mile wide security zone. There was only one paved road leading to the summit site, located in a lush green mountain valley. Camouflage clad soldiers with automatic weapons were stationed at checkpoints at quarter-mile intervals.

Anti-globalization demonstrators, who last year engaged in violent clashes with police in Genoa that left one protester dead, were being kept miles away from the meetings. As an alternative, they planned protest marches for today in Calgary, where reporters covering the summit were staying, and in Ottawa, the Canadian capital.

Protesters demonstrating Tuesday against the Gap company, vastly outnumbered by curious residents, marched outside a downtown mall to protest labor practices at overseas factories. Under the motto “We’d rather go naked than wear Gap,” about a dozen demonstrators stripped.