[ train whistle ] u.s. president barack obama is expected to hold a news conference in a few moments as the g 20 summit wraps up in australia. world leaders talked a great deal about the crisis in ukraine and stopping larger countries from bullying smaller nations. just moments ago, australian prime minister tony abbotts revealed the group of 20. that's what the member countries plan to work on. the prime minister said this was a week end of achievements that is set an agenda for global

growth. action plan contains over 800 separate reform measures and if we do all that we have committed to doing. the ifm and oecd tell us that our gross domestic product will be as i say, 2.1% higher than it would otherwise be. we published these measures and these growth stat edrategies so world can see what we're committed to and the world can hold us accountable and the imf will be regularly reviewing our progress towards achieving these measures to keep us accountable.

>> a significant passage on climate change was also added at the insistence of the united states.

david cameron says russia could seek more sanctions for its actions in ukraine. right now russia and ukraine are locked in a spiral of economic decline. current sanction and falling gas prices have led to rampant inflation and a drop in the russian rubbles worth. mr. cameron says russia has a choice and can make the sanctions go away. >> probably what everyone can say to president putin is that there are two courses for him to take. the first right course is to respect the territorial integrity of ukraine to allow that european country to make its own free choice about its future. that's the right choice. the only choice is to destabilize ukraine to continue to see russian troops and tanks active in ukraine.

to recognize that if that path continues, if that destabilization gets worse, the rest of the world, europe, america, britain, will have no choice but to make further action in sanctions. >> in the meantime ukraine is ordering a cut off to pro-russian rebels in eastern ukraine after rebel leaders held their new government's first official meeting. the decree calls for all state owned companies and institutions to stop services within a week. that includes school, emergency, and banking services. also, the self-declared donesk people's republic has set up a border post from a crossing into russia. ukraine and the rest are accusing moscow of sending new weapons, tanks, and soldiers into eastern ukraine. continued shelling in the east has shaken a cease-fire the two

reached in september. our poppy harlow speak with a spokesman of the organization for security and cooperation in europe. he's on the ground in kiev monitoring the latest on the situation on the eastern ukraine border here is that. >> today or yesterday rather we saw something which we haven't yet reported on ever poppy. that is uniformed men who had russian federation right on their uniforms walking freely above the city. that was a week in which we saw three separate times huge unmarked military convoys coming toward the city. poppy, these are no ordinary trucks. they are towing artillery and mobile rocket launch systems so really big build up. >> he added though there's a glimmer of hope and formation of russian and ukrainian general

staff that have announced they will aim to promote a cease-fire within two days and remove heavy weaponry a few days after. whether it will work or not is unclear. >> well, in georgia's capital city, thousands of people rallied in the street, shouting their displease your against russian president putin and his policy in ukraine as welli as te georgian government. demonstrators are angry about the inaction. the top u.s. military officer makes a surprise visit to iraq. next on cnn, we will tell you what general martin dempsey met with or what he had to say about the battle with isis. [ male announcer ] we all think about life insurance.

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the top military officer in the momentum with the battle of isis militants is quote, starting to turn. washington's chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey made an una aun nouns unannounced visit about how significant is this trip? >> america's top military man's surprise visit to iraq, a clear indication of just how seriously washington is taking the situation. general martin dempsey meeting with iraqi prime minister, according to a statement by his office, the two spoke about progress being made so far by the iraqi security forces.

general dempsey also travelled onto build the capital of the autonomous region of kurdistan meeting with the prime minister there as well. part of the next phase of the u.s. led mission and coalition is to focus on training of security forces. 12 units, part of the initial effort, nine of them iraqi army, three of them the kurdish fighting force. general dempsey also speaking with america's military commanders on the ground. wanting to get an idea from them of exactly what it is they need to be able to move this mission forward. general dempsey is very aware of the situation on the ground having been the commander of the first armored division in the initial years of the war and then moving onto head up america's effort to train and equip the iraqi security forces. this assessment is vital because part of the reason why isis was able to take over such great territory in iraq is because of

the u.s.'s perhaps, under e underestimation of their capabilities but also overestimation of their capacity and cohesiveness of the iraqi security forces that america left behind. that is not a mistake that the u.s. or the region can afford to see happen once again. cnn. turkey. well, earlier, cnn's jonathan mann asked philip mud, a former counter terrorism official if the tide of the conflict is really turning against isis? >> look, it depends on what time frame you use to look at the question. if we were looking at the problem of isis a month or two ago, we would have said they surprise iraqi security services. they are moving across northern iraq and maybe into baghdad. you would have been troubled. today they've been hit by air strikes. they haven't been able to take cobani. so in the short term i would say he's right. when you're looking at

insurgency and counter insurgency you look to measure progress there terms of a year. i can look why he's optimistic but i say come back in a year or two and we'll have a better answer. >> u.s. senator john mccain is probably the most famous or influential vietnam vet. he says this looks a lot like v vietnam. i guess it's fair to add that in vietnam we heard a lot from generals who said the tide is starting to turn. is the comparison apt? >> i do not think it's even close to apt. let me give you two reasons why. number one, wefr t have the experience of vietnam. we know what happens in generals of gradualism, in terms of mission creep. number two, you've got to remember the make up of iraq.

about 1/3 or less sunni or kurds maybe 10 or 15% of the population. flo there is no way isis can take over iraq based on the cultural make up of the country. i see what he's saying. i don't think there's anything close to a comparison of what we saw in vietnam 40 or 50 years ago and what we see today. >> let's go back to general dempsey. americans are watching closely. before he went to iraq. he testified before congress and said he still could not rule out u.s. ground forces if the united states wanted to make sure mozzel could be taken. was he trying to keep his options open in a theoretical way. do you think there are tough decisions about trying to add in a big and serious way to the fighting the kurds and iraqis are doing on their own. >> i don't think he's trying to keep his options open. i think he's trying to keep the president's options open.

let's say the chairman of the joint chiefs says i cannot see a scenario in which we commit u.s. forces to iraq. three months down the road things change and the president of the united states who that's the authority to direct troops says, i think things have changed. i want to send troops. you're in a really bad place if the chairman of the joint chiefs says i can't see the scenario because now you have the president versus the chairman. i think what he's trying to do is say look, all options are on the table. i'm the military person. it's up to the president and the national command authority. that is the political leaders of the united states to decide what we should do here. >> bottom line, he's in a iraq trying to see if the strategy is working. is the strategy working? >> i think at the moment, it's worki working if you understand the perspective of time. we in america have a problem with time. we want to see results in 24 to 48 hours. one week, one month. you got to look at results in

one year, two years. we have lost three years against isis in syria as they transitioned to iraq. now they have embedded in cities. it is very difficult to take insurgents who have in cities especially using air power. we've got to watch with iraqi security forces and u.s. air strikes. i think he is right in saying that we've really strung isis but we've got to give this some time before we can figure out over the course of a year or ten years whether we have really damaged an organization that is isis that is embedded in iraq and syria. >> philip mud, thanks so much for talking with us. >> thank you. >> isis is still making advances in iraq. security officials say the militants kidnapped dozens of people in the western part of the country and attacked a northern oil field saturday. well, hoping to overcome years of mistrust and hostility between their neighboring nations, the leaders of pakistan and afghanistan met for the first time since taking office.

we will get to more of that story in a moment. >> but right now we're going to switch you live again to australia now we're hearing from barack obama on the wrap up of the g 20 summit. the people of all trail gentlem, australia could not have been friendlier. we had a lot of good discussions during the course of the g 20 but as our australian friends say this wasn't just a good old chin wag. i really love that expression. it was a productive summit. so i want to thank tony for his leadership and the people that truly did shine throughout this process with their hospitality. this is the final day of a trip that has taken me across the asia pacific. a visit that comes against the

back drop of america's renewed economic strength. the united states is in the longest stretch of uninterrupted private sector job growth in its history. over the last few years we have put more people back to work than all of the other advanced economies combined. this growing economic strength at home set the stage for the progress that we have made on this trip. it's been a good week for american leadership and for american workers. we made important progress in our efforts to open markets to u.s. goods and to boost the exports that support american jobs. we continue to make progress towards the transpacific partnership. our agreement with china to extend visas for business people, tourists and students is going to boost tourism, grow our two economies and create jobs for americans and chinese alike. we also agreed with china to pursue a bilateral investment treaty as well as agreeing on an

approach to the information technology agreement that would support $60,000 american jobs. here at the g 20 china submitted to greater transparency of its economic data including his transformy reserves. it would promote a level playing field for american businesses and american workers. here all of the g20 countries announced strategies to increase growning and put people back to work including an initiative to build infrastructure and bring 100 million women into our collective work force. we took steps toward closing tax loopholes and stopping criminals from hiding behind shell companies. these were all very specific provisions not just goals that were set without any substance

behind them. we have made very concrete progress during the course of the last several g20 sessions in preventing companies from avoiding the taxes that they own in their own countries, including the united states. and making sure that we've got a financial system that is more stable and that can allow a bank to fail without tax payers having to bail them out. meanwhile the break through that the united states achieved with india this week allows for a e resumption of talks on a global trade deal that would mean more growth and prosperity for all of us. this week we also took historic steps in the fight against climate change. the ambitious new goal that i announced in beijing doubles the pace in which america reduced its carbon pollution while growing our economy and creating jobs and putting us on the path to a low carbon future combined with china's commitment. china for the first time committed to slowing and then

peeking and then reversing the course of its emissions. we're showing there's no excuse for other nations to come together both developed and developing to achieve a strong climate agreement next year. the $3 billion contribution to the green climate fund that i announced yesterday will help nations deal with climate change, reduce their carbon pollution and invest in green energy. i want to commend japan for their $1.5 billion pledge to the fund and following the steps we've taken in the united states, many of the g20 countries agreed to work to improve the efficiency of heavy duty vehicles which would be another major step? reducing emissions. finally, i'm pleased that more nations are stepping up and joining the united states in the effort to end the ebola epidemic in west africa coming objen the heels of global health agenda in the united states, the g20 committed to helping nations like those in west africa to

prevent, proterct and respond t future outbreaks before they become epidemics so from trade to climate change to the fight against ebola. this was a strong week for american leadership. the results will be more jobs for the american people. historic steps toward a cleaner and healthier planet and progress towards saving lives not just in west africa but eventually in othering pla plac. if you ask me, that's a good week. the american people can be proud of the progress we've made. i intend to build on that momentum when i return home tomorrow. with that, i am going to take a few questions. i've got my cheat sheet here. we're going to start with matt. >> thank you mr. president. some of your fellow g 20 leaders took an in your face approach with president putin. you had conversation -- >> i'm sorry --

>> with president putin. >> i see. took a confrontational approach to him. you had brief discussions with him at apec. how confrontational or not were those encounters. did you have any further exchanges with him here. what if any progress did you make with him on the ukraine issue? of course, you've now just met with eu leaders. did you agree on further sanctions? one of the questions on a domestic subject. are you prepared to state that if congress does pass a keystone pipe line bill that you would veto it if it would come to your desk? >> i had naturally several interactions with president putin during the course of the apex summit, and then here at the g 20. i would characterize them as typical of our interactions which are business like and

blunt. my communications to him was no different than what i've said publically as well as what i have said to him privately over the course of this crisis in ukraine. that is that russia has the opportunity to take a different path to resolve the issue of ukraine in a way that respects ukraine's sovereignty and is consistent with international law. that is our preference and if it does so, then i will be the first to suggest that we roll back the sanctions that are frankly having a devastating affect on the russian economy. if he continues down the path that he is on, violating international law, providing heavy arms to the separatists in ukraine, violating an agreement that he agreed to just a few weeks ago, that would have

lowered the temperature and the killing in the disputed areas and provided us a pathway for a diplomatic resolution, then the isolation that russia is currently experiencing will continue. and in my meeting with european leaders, they confirmed their view that so far, russia has not abided by the spirit or the letter of the agreement that mr. putin signed or agreed to and that as a consequence, we are going to continue to maintain the economic isolation while maintaining the possibility of a diplomatic solution. it is not our preference to see russia isolated the way it is. we would prefer a russia that is fully integrated with the global economy. that is thriving on behalf of its people.

that can once again engage with us in cooperative efforts around global challenges. we're also very firm on the need to uphold core international principles. one of those principles is that you don't invade other countries or finance proxies and support them in ways that break up a country that has mechanisms for democratic elections. >> did you discuss or agree with them? >> at this point, the sanctions that we have in place are biting plenty good. we retain the capabilities and we have our teams constantly looking at mechanisms in which to turn up additional pressure as necessary. with respect to keystone, i have said consistently, and i think i repeated in burma but i guess

i've got to answer it one more time, we're going to let the process play itself out. the determination will be made in the first instance by the secretary of state but i won't hide my opinion about this which is that one major determinant of whether we should approve a pipe line shipping canadian oil owe wor to world markets, not to the united states is does it contribute to the greenhouse gases that are causing climate change? i got to move on man. everybody wants to go home. other people have questions. >> gymjim acosta, cnn. >> thank you mr. president. i wanted to ask you about the climate deal that you agreed to with the chinese president. and on that front, also adding

in your expected executive action on immigration. you're taking executive actions on a multitude of fronts. i wanted to ask you to what is stopping a future republican president or even a democratic president from reversing your executive orders and are you expanding the powers of the presidency in ways that could potentially back fire on your agenda down the road and on the battle against isis your joint chiefs chairman martin dempsey is at a congressional hearing last week he said he could envision a scenario in which ground forces could be engaged in combat in iraq alongside iraqi security forces. i know you have ruled out the possibility of having ground forces, u.s. ground forces engaged in combat going house to house. has your thinking on that changed somewhat and might general dempsey be able to convince you otherwise? >> okay. with respect to the climate agreement. the goal that we've said, a 26 to 28% reduction by 2025.

we shaped that target based on existing authorities rather than the need for additional congressional action. i want to be clear here jim that that is based not on particular executive actions that i'm taking, but based on the authority that's been upheld repeatedly by this supreme court for the epa. the environmental protection agency to be able to shape rules to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases. obviously it is supplemented by a bunch of stuff that none of us are doing that nobody suggests isn't within our authority. for example the doubling of fuel efficiency standards on cars is something that we negotiated with the car companies and with labor groups. it is working really well. we are selling a lot of cars

domestically as well as internationally. there are more fuel efficient cars and as a consequence more popular cars. with respect to executive actions general, the record will show that i have actually taken fewer executive actions than my predecessors. nobody disputes that. what i think has changed is their reaction of some of my friends in congress to exercising what are normal and frankly fairly typical exercises of presidential authority. you are absolutely right that the very nature of an executive action means that a future president could reverse those actions. but that's always been true. that was true when i came into office if president bush had a bunch of executive actions that he had signed, it was part of my authority to reverse them.

that's why for example on immigration reform it continues to be my great preference to see congress pass comprehensive legislation because that is not reversed by a future president. it would have to be reversed by future congress. that's part the reason why i have argued consistly that we're better off if we can get a comprehensive deal through congress. that's why i showed extraordinary patience with congress in trying to work a bipartisan deal. that's why i was so encouraged when the senate produced a bipartisan immigration deal and why i waited for over a year for speaker boehner to call that bipartisan bill in the house. but as i've said before, i can't wait when i have authorities that at least for the next two years can improve the system. can allow us to shift more resources to the border rather

than separating families, improve the legal immigration system. i would be derelict in my duties if i did not try to improve the system that everybody acknowledges is broken. with respect to syria, chairman dempsey has consistently said in all of his testimony and i would expect him to always do this, to give me his best military advice and to not be constrained by politics. he has not advised me that i should be sending u.s. troops to fight. what he said in testimony and what i suspect he will always say is that yes, there are circumstances in which he could envision the deployment of u.s. troops. that's true everywhere by the way. that's his job. it is to think about variance contingencies and yes, there are

always various circumstances in which the united states might need to deploy u.s. ground troops. if we discovered that isil had gotten possession of a nuclear weapon and we had to run a operation to zbget it out of thr hands, then yes, you can anticipate that not only would chairman dempsey recommend we send u.s. ground troops to get that weapon out of their hands but i would order it so the question just ends up being what are those circumstances? i'm not going to speculate on those? right now we're moving forward in conjunction with outstanding allies like australia in training iraqi security forces to do their job on the ground. >> my thinking has not changed currently. >> ed henry of fox. >> thank you. one question, i promise. >> that's great.

>> at your burma town hall a couple of days ago you tried to inspire young leaders by saying that governments need to be head accountable. and need to be transparent. i wonder how you square that up. did you mislead the american people in order to get your bill passed? >> no, i had not. i had just heard about that before i came out of here. the fact that some advisor who never worked on our staff expressed on opinion that i completely disagree with in terms of the voters is not reflection on the actual process that was run. we had a year long debate, ed. go back and look at your stories. the one thing we can't say is that we did not have a lengthy

debate about health care in the united states of america. or that it was not adequately covered. i mean, i would just advise every press outlet here, go back and pull up every clip, every story, and i think it will -- it's fair to say that there was not a provision in the health care law that was not extensively debated. it was fully transparent. now, there were folks who disagreed with some of these various positions. it was a tough debate. the good news is -- i know this wasn't part of your question but since some folks back home who don't have health insurance may be watching open enrollment just started. it means that those who did not take advantage of the marketplaces the first time

around, they've got another chance to sign up for affordable health care. they may be eligible for a tax credit. so far there were over half a million successful log ins on the first day. heal healthcare.gof wo healthcare.gov. there were 23,000 applications completed in just the first eight hours and 10s of thousands more throughout the day. health care is working. more than 10 million people have already gotten health insurance. millions more are eligible. contrary to some of the predictio predictions, not only is the program working but we've actually seen health care inflation lower than it has been in 50 years which is contributing to us reducing the deficit and has the affect of making premiums for families lower than they other wise would have been if they had health

insurance. all right? christine welker. >> thank you, mr. president. i'd like to ask you again about syria. when you were recently asked about the u.s. campaign against isis, you said, quote, it's too early to say whether we are winning. you went onto say this is going to be a long term plan. there are now reports that you have ordered a review of your entire syria policy. so i'd like to put the question to you today, are you currently recalibrating your policy in syria. does that include plans to remove president assad? was it a miscalculation not to focus on the removal of assad initially, thank you. >> we have a weekly meeting with my commander. with my joint -- chairman of the joint chiefs. with all of our diplomatic

personnel relates to the region as well as my national security team. secretary of state. secretary of defense to assess what kind of progress are we making both in iraq and syria with respect to isil. i will be having weekly meetings as long as this campaign lasts because i think it is very important for us to get it right. we have not had a comprehensive review of syria. we've had a comprehensive review of what are wengng each and every week. what's working. what's not. some of it is very detailed at the tactical level. some of it is conceptual. we continue to learn about isil. where its weaknesses are. where we can more affectively put pressure on them. nothing extraordinary. formal of the sort that you describe has taken place. certainly no changes have taken

place with respect to our attitude towards assad. i've said this before but let me reiterate. assad has ruthlessly, murdered hundreds of thousands of his citizens. as a consequence, has completely lost legitimacy with the majority of the country. for us to then make common cause with him against isil, would only turn more sunnis in syria in the direction of supporting isil and would weaken our coalition that sends a message around the region, this is not a

fight against sunni islam. this is a fight against extremisms of any stripe that are will to behead innocent people or mow down political prisoners with the cruelty that we've very rarely seen in the modern age. so we have communicated to the syrian regime so when we operate going after isil in their air space that they would be well advised not to take us on but beyond that, there's no expectation that we are going to in some ways enter an alliance with assad. he is not credible in that country. now, we are looking for a political solution eventually within syria that is inclusive of all of the groups who live there. alawite, the sunni, christians. at some point, the people of

syria and the various players involved, as well as the reasonable a regional players, turkey, iran, assad's patrons like russia, are going to have to engage in a political conversation. you know, it's the nature of diplomacy in any time, certainly in this situation where you end up having diplomatic conversations potentially with people who you don't like and regimes that you don't like but we're not even close to being at that stage yet. >> just to put a fine point on. are you actively discussing ways to remove him as part of a political transition? >> no. >> major garrett. >> thank you mr. president. >> as you well know the continuing resolution expires on september eleventh. funding for coalition operations in iraq and syria. the ebola outbreak not to

mention the day to day government operations. what are the odds the country will see itself in a shut down scenario? how much do you fear the government will shut down and to what degree does your anxiety about this or your team's anxiety about this influence the timing of your decision on immigration and executive action? >> i take mitch mcconnel at its way when he says that the government is not going to shut down. there's no reason for it to shut down. we've travelled down that path before. it was bad for the country. it was bad for every elected official in washington. at the end of the day, it was resolve resolved in the same way that it would have been resolved if we hadn't shut the government down. so that's not going to be productive. i think that leader mcon yooonl

speaker boehner understand that. this goes to a broader point that i've made previously and i will just reiterate. it is in the nature of democracy that the parties are going to disagree on certain issues. in our system, because we don't have a parliamentary system, it means that you can have a congress of one party and a president of another and they disagree on some really fundamental issues. the question then is how do you deal with it? well, the sensible way to deal with it is to say here are the issues we don't agree on. we'll fight like heck for our position. we'll work together on the issues that we do agree on. that's how it has always been. that's how it was with ronald reagan when he was dealing with a democratic congress. there was no -- at no point did the democrats say because we don't agree with ronald reagan on xyz issue than we can't work

with him on social security rereform or tax reform or other issues. he said we'll fight on that. we'll join together on that. as a consequence, the country will make progress. i understand that members of the republican party are going to disagree with me and law enforcement and the e57ivangeli community and other colleagues on the need for immigration reform. i get that. they have made their positions clear. there's nothing wrong with them arguing their position and opposing legislation. but why they would then decide we're going to shut down the government, makes about as much sense as my decision to shut down the government if they decide to take a vote to repeal

health care reform for the -- 53rd or 55th time. i understand there's a difference there but let's keep on doing the people's business. >> does the shut down anxiety in any way affect your timing at all on immigration? >> i think the main concern is making sure that we get it right. that's what we're focused on at this point because any executive action that i take is going to require some adjustments to how dhs, the department of homeland security operates, where it is deploying resources, et cetera. how are folks processed? what priorities are set up? so i want to make sure that we've crossed all of our ts and dotted all of our is. that's my main priority. we will close with jim. >> thank you mr. president. following up on immigration. in 2010 when asked by

immigration reform advocates to stop deportations and act alone on providing legal status for the undocumented quote he said i'm president, not king. i can't do these things by myself. >> in 2013 you said i am not the emperor by the united states. my job is to execute laws that are passed. what has changed since then. since you've had a chance to talk with your legal advisor what's do you believe are your limits to you can continue to act as president and not as emperor or king. >> actually my position hasn't changed. when i was talking to the advocates, their interest was in me through executive action duplicating the legislation that was stalled in congress.

there's certain things that i cannot do. there's certain limits to what falls within the limits of prosecutorial discretion in how we apply immigration laws. what we have continued to do talk to the office of legal counsel who is responsible for telling us what the rules are. what the scope of our operations are and determining where it is appropriate for us to say we're not going to deport 11 million people. on the other hand, we've got severe resource constraints right now at the border, not in apprehending people but in processing and having enough immigration judges and so forth. so what's within our authority to do? reallocating resources and

reprioritizing since we can't do everything. it's on that basis that i will be making a decision about any executive actions that i might take. i will repeat what i have said before. there is a very simple solution to this perception that somehow i'm exercising too much executive authority. pass a bill i can sign on this issue. if congress passes a law that solves our border problems, improves our legal immigration system, and provides a pathway for the 11 million people who are here, working in our kitchens, working in farms, making beds in hotels. everybody knows they are there. we're not going to deport all of them. we'd like to see them be able

out in the open to pay their taxes. pay a penalty. get right with the law. give them a bill that addresses those issues. i'll be the first one to sign it and metaphorically, i will crumble up whatever executive actions we take and we will toss them in the wastebasket because we will now have a law that addresses those issues. >> but in those five months sir since you said you were going to act, have you received the legal advice from the attorney general about what limits you have and what you can do. >> yes. >> and would you tell us what those are. >> no. i will tell them when i make the announcement. but it's a good try though. jim and i go way back although he actually -- he was famous, i was not. he used to be a broadcaster in chicago. so i used to watch him on tv. you've aged a little better than i have. >> people of australia, thank you again for your wonderful

hospitality. [ applause ] >> you've been listening to cnn's live coverage of president barack obama speaking after the conclusion of the g20 summit there in australia taking wide ranging questions as he always does. for the past 15 or so minutes, the united states is reporting crews dominating the questions and gearing them more towards domestic situations that mr. obama has been confronting over imgrae immigration reform. the controversial keystone pipe line. he did talk about vladimir putin and the fact that the world is united against putin's continuing stance on ukraine and aggressions there and that sanctions will continue if putin continues in that regard. but let's get back to the overall progress made at this summit and world leaders coming together. our cnn asia pacific editor

andrew stephens has been covering the summit. he's been listening. i am told it is so bloody hot there in australia but the president started by saying this was not an old fashioned chin wag. a term he said he liked but they really got stuff done. so what were the highlights that you saw? >> he certainly did like that word chin wag didn't he? it's a well used term use down in australia. the highlights as far as the official agenda is concerned is the g 20 nations have agreed on this global growth plan that they will up until 2018 increase economic growth by some 2% over what is already expected. all of the g 20s have signed off on that. they are bringing to the table various measures which they want to implement in their own economies. it will be watched over by the oecd. the organization for economic

cooperation development and also the international monetary fund that will act as the police if you'd like to make sure this is done. it's all in the implementation of it obviously. this is a major step forward. it will provide jobs. at the end of the day, economic growth really is what it is all about. it is all about jobs. so there is that. but i think un officially, most people are wanting to hear from the president about vladimir putin or about what happened between the european leaders, particularly and vladimir putin. he was asked whether he had indeed been speaking to mr. putin down here at the g 20 and mr. obama said that during the course of both the apec meetings and the g 20 that he had been speaking with mr. putin and he said that his interactions with mr. putin were as they always are, business like and blunt. he said that his private message to mr. putin is pretty much the same as his public message. that is that if he continues down this path of supplying as

he says, ukraine rebels with weaponry, that russian troops continue to go across the border, he will continue in his isolation. not only diplomatic isolation but certainly the economic sanctions which the u.s. among others have applied. interestingly there, he did say the sanctions that have been applied so far and i quote, mr. obama is saying that they are biding plenty good. that is actually what he said. that does indicate that there's no plan on the table at this stage to increase at least the economic sanctions on industries. now, i know the european union foreign ministers will be meeting in europe on monday. they will be looking at the ukraine question. there may be further sanctions on individuals and travel and asset freezes. individuals associated with mr. putin. at this stage the u.s. president sounding like there's not going

to be any broader economic sanctions if you like. so he was quite clear on that. the other unone is climate chan and getting climate change and moves toward cutting emissionsant agenda here at the g 20. talking to various officials, particularly from europe who say that climate change was not on the agenda. the australians did not want it on the agenda. australia said very clearly this is a economic summit. climate change does not have a position on the agenda here. well, the final order was that climate change was on the agenda if you like. it talks about moving toward more efficient use of energy. moving towards less carbon emissions so that is a feather in the cap for his administration putting that particular topic here. >> right. and china certainly making some

steps toward that end that they never had before. >> that's right. the chinese at the apec meeting in beijing coming out along with the u.s. to announce new climate change measures. it is the first time we've really heard from the chinese putting in binding measures. i mean, the chinese obviously van enormous pollution problem in china which they are acutely aware of they have been pursuing greener energy but they have never said what exactly their targets are. now we know their targets are that they plan to have peek emission business 2030. this is a fast growing economy. they also plan to wrramp up the renewable energy sources. certainly it is sending a very strong message given these two, the two biggest emitters of carbon emissions in the world, very strong message not only

here at g 20 but going into big climate change talks in paris next year. >> absolutely. andrew stephens for us live in australia. we thank you. we've been bring you live coverage of the g 20 summit in australia. thank you for watching. i'm natalie allen. the news continues after this. [prof. burke] it's easy to buy insurance and forget about it.

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