G8 leaders believe the world economy still faces "significant risks" and may need further help, according to summit draft documents that also reflect failure to agree climate change goals for 2050.
Progress on the environment was impeded by Chinese president Hu Jintao returning home due to unrest in northwestern China in which 156 people have died. Before he left, summit host Silvio Berlusconi spoke of Chinese "resistance" on climate goals.
The Group of Five emerging nations, which include powerhouses China and India, said today developed countries had to take the lead on removing trade barriers and addressing climate change.
The G5, formulating its position ahead of talks with the Group of Eight rich nations in Italy, cautioned that they were suffering more from the global economic crisis caused by the world's wealthiest countries.
"We are concerned about the present state of the world economy, which submits the developing countries to an inordinate burden resulting from a crisis they did not initiate," said the G5 nations, which also include Brazil, South Africa and Mexico.
The G5 meetings came amid hopes of possible breakthrough on trade. A draft communique suggested the G8 and G5 would agree at talks in the Italian town of L'Aquila to conclude the stalled Doha round of trade talks in 2010.
In their statement, the G5 said it was committed to try to address "any outstanding problems" on trade talks and added the successful conclusion of Doha would provide "a major stimulus to the restoration of confidence in world markets".
But it also called on the world's richest nations to tear down trade barriers they said were a drag on the world economy and to restore credit to the poorest countries.
"We will stress tomorrow the importance of maintaining adequate flow of finance to the developing countries and also of keeping markets open by resisting protectionist pressures," said India's prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Documents seen by Reuters before the G8 summit began today cautioned that "significant risks remain to economic and financial stability" while "exit strategies" from pro-growth packages should be unwound only "once recovery is assured".
"Before there is talk of additional stimulus, I would urge all leaders to focus first on making sure the stimulus that has been announced actually gets delivered," Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper said.
Leaders met in L'Aquila, a mountain town wrecked by April's earthquake and a fitting backdrop to talks on a global economy struggling to overcome the worst recession in living memory.
The Group of Eight - United States, Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia - kicked off with debate on the economic crisis, after what one analyst called a "reality check" in recent weeks on the prospects for rapid recovery. G8 leaders badly underestimated the economic problems facing them when they met in Japan last year and were expected to focus on what must be done to prevent another meltdown.
But few big initiatives were expected as the G20, a broader forum that also includes the main emerging economies, is tasked with formulating a regulatory response to the crisis and meets in September in Pittsburgh after an April summit in London.
Not mentioning China's push for a sensitive debate about a long-term alternative to the dollar as global reserve currency, the draft talked only of global "imbalances". G8 diplomats had said this might be the only oblique reference to currency.
"Stable and sustainable long-term growth will require a smooth unwinding of the existing imbalances in current accounts," read the draft prepared for the G8 talks.
China complains that dollar domination has exacerbated the global crisis and worries that the bill for US recovery poses an inflation risk for China's dollar assets, an estimated 70 per cent of its official currency reserves.
US president Barack Obama was expected to make his mark on his first G8 summit by chairing Thursday's meeting in L'Aquila of the 17-nation Major Economies Forum (MEF), whose members account for about 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
MEF ministers holding last-minute preparatory talks failed to close the gap between US and Europe on the one hand and emerging powers like China and India on the other hand on the goal of halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
A draft MEF document dropped any reference to this, however, and aimed instead for agreement on the need to limit the average increase in global temperature to 2 degrees (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.
Reuters