As every host knows, the secret to a successful party is thorough preparation.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has been scrupulous in laying the foundations for Germany's G8 summit.

Over the past few weeks, she has held a series of one-to-one meetings with the world's most powerful leaders who will sit round the table for the first time this year at a lavish dinner tonight.

But not even her careful planning could iron out all the differences between her guests or head off the major row that flared up over American missile defence plans.

It’s Grrrrr8 (honest)

As the G8 summit begins in Germany, Hugo Rifkind explains everything you need to know – and lots of stuff you don’t

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BACKGROUND

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• Save the planet: give to China

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The bilateral approach to problem-solving which has become known as the Merkel Method has failed so far to reach agreement on the big issues dominating this powerful annual gathering: climate change, aid to Africa and the escalating dispute between Russia, the US and Europe.

The dramatic war of words between Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Bush over US plans to locate interceptor rockets in Poland and the Czech Republic suddenly threatens to overshdow the entire two-day gathering.

So, in the final hours before the start of her party in the Baltic Sea resort of Heilingendamm, Mrs Merkel has four more "sit-downs" to try and whip the awkward squad into line.

Lunch with President Bush will be followed by chats with Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy, then Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France attending his first major summit, and finally afternoon tea with President Putin.

The German Chancellor will use her first bilateral to call for calmer rhetoric after President Bush yesterday accused President Putin of derailing Russia's democratic reforms. She also needs to push Mr Bush to go further on tackling climate change than his negotiators have so far been willing to go.

Mr Prodi is backing Mrs Merkel strongly on her plans for a global carbon trading market, but will have to be cajoled to commit fresh funds to Africa. Mr Sarkozy similarly backs Mrs Merkel on greenhouse gases but will also be unwilling to make spending commitments.

After their tense meeting at the EU/Russia summit in Samara last month, Mrs Merkel's tete-a-tete with Mr Putin is crucial to the outcome of the G8, and will test her mettle at the highest level of international diplomacy.

She wants to rein in the Russian President, to stop him spoiling her party with another outburst like his comments in an interview with The Times this week when he warned that Russian nuclear missiles could once again be targeted at western Europe if the US plan goes ahead.

Although it is Mrs Merkel's showpiece event, the bilateral which will attract the most attention comes tomorrow when Mr Bush and Mr Putin meet. Mr Blair, too, will have one-to-ones with Mr Bush and Mr Putin, and has promised a "frank conversation" with the latter.

As always with these informal meetings, both sides will brief their own media on the outcome, talking up their leader's toughness - although all the implications of the private discussions may not be apparent for days or weeks.

The G8 has grown from its roots in 1975 as a meeting of the richest nations to discuss economic issues into a major diplomatic event covering the whole range of international relations and strategic global policy.

Initially an informal get-together for the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, the United States and Japan, Canada joined in 1976, the European Union became a full participant in 1981 and Russia only became a fully-fledged member in 1998.

The German press this morning asked "Will Merkel be able to get the men in line?" adding that, as host of the G8, she is currently the most important woman in the world.

She wanted to get agreement on long-term targets for greenhouse gas reduction, as well as concrete pledges on aid to Africa to back up the pledges made at Gleneagles, when Britain held the year-long G8 presidency in 2005. Both now look in doubt as a traditional east/west split threatens to sour the atmosphere and sap the energy out of this year's G8.

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