President Bush has returned for the closing ceremonies of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm after being taken ill with a stomach complaint and being forced to skip the morning working session.

The US President realised that he was "very much under the weather" as he got up and dressed this morning, his aides said.

He pressed ahead with an hour-long discussion with Nicolas Sarkozy, the new French President, their first bilateral talks since the French leader was elected last month.

As a precaution, however, the meeting was held in Mr Bush's private room, and the US President then had a lie down for the rest of the morning.

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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Multimedia

• Video: Our young man in Heiligendamm

"President Bush is slightly indisposed this morning and will rejoin the working meeting as soon as he can," Mr Sarkozy said, as he emerged alone from the US President’s suite in the Orangerie, a luxury hotel in the Baltic Sea resort.

"I’m not sure if it’s a stomach virus yet or something like that," Dan Bartlett, an aide to the president, told reporters. "He’s just not feeling well in his stomach."

He added that Mr Bush’s doctor, Dr Richard Tubb, was monitoring the president’s health.

The White House said Mr Bush had sent his regrets to the other summit leaders and that the US envoy to the G8, Dave McCormack, had stood in for the President at the meetings.

The US leader returned to the summit to appear in the final ’family’ photo and attend its final lunch. He was to stick to his programme of visiting Poland briefly later in the day before going on to Italy.

"We are back on schedule," a White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, told reporters. "The President had a good rest this morning. He’s feeling better, not 100 per cent, but he feels good enough to rejoin the meeting."

Indigestion or a mild case of food poisoning are suspected as the cause of Mr Bush's indisposition at the summit, where 60 chefs are on stand by to cook for the eight heads of state, their partners and entourages.

The hotel complex where the conference is being held has its own herds of lamb and goat, and prides itself on fresh, locally grown produce.

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