TOKYO, July 6: Ixaders of the Group of Seven (G7) richest nations meet in the Japanese capital at an economic summit Wednesday amid scepticism over whether they can achieve anything meaningful for the world economy, reports Reuter.

Most of them face tough political battles in the domestic arena, and may be more concerned with their standing at home. Here are brief open portraits of the G7 leaders and Russian President Boris Yeltsin who will join them.

Britain

John Major became Britain's youngest Prime Minister for nearly a century when he succeeded Margaret Thatcher in 1990.

At first he impressed with his coolness under pressure and a conciliatory style that contrasted with his predecessor.

But after he retained power in the April 1992 general election, his leadership was plagued with misjudgments, and his popularity has been eroded by policy u-turns in the face of a sluggish economy.

Canada

Kim Campbell, the newest recruit to the ranks ol G7 leaders, became Canada's first woman Prime Minister when she won the conservative party leadership last month, overcoming controversy about her abrasive character and two divorces.

She will be the first woman to sit at the summit table since Margaret Thatcher left office as British Prime Minister. She must call a general election by November and the conservatives .re trailing tn the polls.

dwindle rapidly after a centre-right landslide election victory in March, as his socialist party fell into disrepute because of a stalling economy and soaring unemployment.

In 1992 he had gambled on a referendum to approve the Maastricht Treaty on European Union. However, the wafer-thin public endorsement was insufficient to revive his standing and the disclosure that he had prostate cancer added to an 'end of reign' mood in Paris.

Germany

Chancellor since 1982, Helmut Kohl wept for joy when Eastern Germany came into the western fold after 40 years of communism. As first Chancellor of a reunited Germany, his place in the history books is secure.

Just three years after the Berlin wall burst open, however, the c ountry has plunged into its deepest recession since World War Two. Kohl has so far weathered the plunge in his popularity partly because of the weakness of the opposition Social Democrats (SPD).

Italy

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi became Italian leader in April after the previous government crumbled under the weight of a corruption scandal. I Ie got the job largely because of his lack of connections with the tainted world of Italian politics.

A political novice, the soft-spoken Ciampi was governor of the nation's centra) bank for 14 years, where he won praise for his drive to modernise Italy’s financial system.

Japan

Perhaps the most vulnerable of all the G7 leaders. Kiichi

Miyazawa hosts the summit on the eve of a general election, called after his government lost a confidence vote triggered by his failure to take promised steps to, curb rampant political corruption.

It Is unlikely that the deeply unpopular Miyazawa will hold on to his job, even if his Liberal Democratic Party manages to form a coalition government after the July 18 general election and continue its 38-ycar rule.

United States

President Bill Clinton took office in January 1993, and raised hopes that a swift enaction of his promised economic programme would bring new prosperity to a country that had suffered four years of slow growth and recession.

But he quickly became entangled in a series of controversies, from the issue of allowing homosexuals to serve in the armed forces to his bungled nominations for the post of Attorney General. He also failed to steer a )6-bill1on dollar economic stimulus package through the Senate, and hfsjob rating fell to the lowest of any new US President.

Russia

President Boris Yeltsin emerged as first among equals in the Commonwealth of Independent States that succeeded the Soviet Union, when mentor and rival Mikhail Gorbachev was forced into early retirement in December 1991. This followed an attempted coup to which Yeltsin displayed heroic resistance.

Yeltsin and h1s advisers are now winning high marks abroad by sticking with painful economic reforms, freeing many price* last winter and sending the average Russian * buying power plummeting. >