The three-day diplomatic marathon kicked off Friday morning with remarks by Obama on the rising concern over global food security. Obama outlined a new international effort to address hunger in Africa and   elsewhere, calling it a moral, economic and security imperative. The failure to adequately address the issue is "an affront to who we are," he declared.

Obama also met at the White House on Friday with new French President Francois Hollande, who was elected on a platform opposing increasingly unpopular eurozone austerity measures. "Much of our discussion centered on the situation in the eurozone," Obama noted. "President Hollande and I agree that this is an issue of extraordinary importance not only to the people of Europe but also to the world economy."