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Leaders of G5 meet in Italy on global issues

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-09 03:40

L'AQUILA, Italy: The leaders of the Group of Five emerging countries gathered on Wednesday to discuss issues such as global financial supervision, climate change, trade and development of Africa, in conjunction with a Group of Eight (G8) summit in earthquake-hit L'Aquila, central Italy.

The leaders from China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are to coordinate their position on climate change, and Doha Round trade talks, among other things, in their meeting as they share common views on these matters.

(L-R) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President of South Africa Jacob Zuma and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo pose for a group photo in L'Aquila, Italy, July 8, 2009. On behalf of Chinese President Hu Jintao, State Councilor Dai Bingguo attended the leaders' meeting of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico (G5) on Wednesday afternoon in the earthquake-torn Italian city of L'Aquila. [Xinhua]

The meeting of the major developing countries - outreach partners invited by the G8 group of the world's most industrialized nations - takes place in the sidelines of the three-day G8 summit.

Leaders of the two groups will hold a dialogue meeting on Thursday on the issues mentioned above and take part in the first ever Major Economies Forum (MEF), hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, to jointly tackle global warming and international trade with Australia, South Korea and Indonesia at present.

(L-R) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President of South Africa Jacob Zuma and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo pose with jerseys for a group photo in L'Aquila, Italy, July 8, 2009. President Lula of Brazil, a country well-known for its soccer, presented each of the leaders of the four countries with a jersey as a gift. [chinadaily.com.cn]

In the backdrop of the global financial crisis, top on the agenda of the meetings is the reform of international financial institutions to ensure both a sustainable recovery from the current crisis and also to prevent the repeat of such crises in future.

Related readings:  G8 leaders to agree on 2-degree limit on global warming  World leaders' expressions at G8 summit  G8 leaders meet on economy, climate  G8 summit in new push for global financial reform  China and G8

On climate change, the two groups of countries, which create 80 percent of global warming gases, ought to set goals on curbing emissions for the medium and long term to pave the way for a successful Copenhagen climate summit in December.

But as differences among the developed players themselves and rifts with developing nations, they are not likely to reach agreement on halving emissions by 2050 over the 1990 level.

Most likely, they will agree to keep the rise of global temperature below 2 degrees Celcius compared with pre-industrial times. 

On Doha Round talks, no substantial breach-through could be expected other than a consensus to conclude the eight-year-long negotiations in 2010.

During the three days, a series of meetings will be held aside from their respective meetings of G8 and G5.

Some Africaqn nations such as Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Lybia, Nigeria and Senegal plus the Commission of the African Union will attend the meeting on development in Africa and food security.

Chinese President Hu Jintao will skip the meetings as he cut short his trip to Italy and flew back home Wednesday night because of the unrest in Xinjiang, where violence which erupted on Sunday left 156 people dead and more than a thousand injured.

In his place, State Councilor Dai Bingguo attends the meetings.