President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama depart for the first leg of thier first overseas trip since entering the Oval Office. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Donning an air of diplomacy, an acute shift in American foreign policy and perhaps a new generational vision, President Barack Obama worked to mend strained alliances while avoiding stepping on any toes in his first international summit as president.

Obama used this week’s trip to London’s Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors conference to mend international ties with both Russia and China, countries whose relationships with the U.S. under the Bush administration were increasingly rocky.

The G20 comprises 19 of the worlds most largest and influential economies, as well as the European Union. Its members compose about two-thirds of the world’s population.

The president shared laughs with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev while the two talked to reporters in a break from the conference yesterday. Obama accepted the Russian president’s invitation to visit the country in July.

“I think that over the last several years the relationship between our two countries has been allowed to drift,” Obama said. “And what I believe we’ve begun today is a very constructive dialogue that will allow us to work on issues of mutual interest.”

The first interaction between Obama and Medvedev varied from the initial meeting between Bush and then President Vladimir Putin. Bush claimed that he “was able to get a sense of his soul,” following his first meeting with Putin in 2001. Though the two leaders shared political and recreational similarities, relations between the two countries chilled to a new Cold War climate, some argued.

Obama and Medvedev agreed to continue conversation on strengthening the non-proliferation Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, which expires in December. In a joint statement released Wednesday, the two leaders committed to negotiating a pact that would further reduce the size of their respect nuclear arsenals

“My hope is that given the constructive conversations that we’ve had today… that what we’re seeing today is the beginning of new progress in the U.S.-Russian relations,” Obama said.

The G20 also served as Obama’s first interaction with China, the country which owns the majority of American debt. While the Bush Administration held biannual talks with Chinese leaders, they focused solely on economic and financial issues and largely avoided diplomatic talks about alleged human rights violations within China.

Obama’s meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao remained very diplomatic, with the president pledging to visit China later in the year.

The leaders agreed to advance diplomacy in order to enhance relations, as well as to deepen mutual interests such as the economy and trade, counter-terrorism, science and technology, and education.

President Hu and President Obama also agreed that financial cooperation between the two nations is “critical” to maintain the health of the world economy. They agreed to create a “strategic and economic dialogue” group, which will discuss both diplomatic and economic issues and meet in Washington D.C. this summer.

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