Associated Press
Thursday, August 9, 2007

President Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet this weekend at the coastal Maine home that belongs to Bush's parents, the White House said yesterday.

Sarkozy is vacationing at an estate on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., about 50 miles from Kennebunkport, Maine, where former president George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, own a seaside compound called Walker's Point.

The president is scheduled to go to Kennebunkport tomorrow and stay through the weekend for a wedding. The Bushes will have Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, to a private lunch on Saturday, presidential spokesman Tony Snow said. Laura Bush extended the invitation during meetings of world leaders in Germany in June, Snow said.

"The U.S. and France share the deepest of friendship," Snow said. "They've worked together since the founding of our nation to protect freedom around the world."