British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair has defended costly gatherings of world leaders, angrily rejecting suggestions that future big power summits should be shelved because of the threat of violence and rioting.
"That is to stand the whole principle of democracy on its head," he told a closing news conference.
Mr Blair, visibly annoyed, said world leaders had to talk over key global affairs regardless of trouble outside the perimeters of their high-security meetings.
He said peaceful protests had been hijacked by a violent minority and attacked the media for ignoring G8 plans to fight AIDS and lift Africa out of poverty.
Coverage of the riots outweighed those issues by 10 to one, he said. "The world's gone mad when that is the case. It is the work that the summits do that is the most important aspect."
At no other time did the leaders of Russia, Europe, the United States and Japan meet in the same room, he noted.
Blair said the lasting legacy of the summit should be the launch of a development plan for Africa and the creation of a joint forum with leaders from the world's poorest continent.
A concrete timetable will be in place by next year's summit.
Some 2.5 million people died of AIDS in Africa last year and millions more succumbed to starvation in recent years.
"If that's not something to stimulate the conscience of the world I don't know what is," Blair said.
Blair said he did not care where he met his fellow leaders or on what basis.
But meet they must to tackle matters of global concern.
"I don't think it matters where we meet. All we see is the inside of a conference room and the inside of the room in which we sleep," he said. "The most important thing is that we sit down and talk about the issues that are important."
Canadian Prime Minister Mr Jean Chretien has picked a tiny Rockies resort to host next year's G8 summit in a bid to prevent a repeat of the violent battles on Genoa's streets.