Fastest-Growing Economies Join G-8 Summit

India, China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa Invited to Weigh in on Issues from Climate Change to Economic Woes

(CBS/AP)  Leaders of the exclusive club of eight industrialized nations opened up their forum Thursday to the five fastest developing market economies - Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa - tacit admission that their leadership alone is not enough to fix the world's major problems.

The so-called Group of Five, making their fifth straight appearance at the annual summit, albeit as invited guests, will discuss climate change, development aid, global economic growth and international trade with their Group of Eight counterparts - all topics touched on by G-8 leaders meeting on their own Wednesday.

The G-5, along with special invitee Egypt, on Wednesday urged a resumption of the stalled Doha trade round, noting that the developing countries were particularly damaged by protectionist trends emerging from the global economic crisis. Stronger multilateral trading, they said, would play a role in promoting development and reducing poverty.

"We are concerned with the present state of the world economy, which submits the developing countries to an inordinate burden resulting from a crisis they did not initiate," the G-5 said in a statement after a preparatory meeting Wednesday. Concluding the Doha Round would aid "the restoration of confidence in the world markets and inhibit emerging protectionist trends," the G-5 said.

Among the G-8 leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have been particularly vocal that the G-8 needs to be expanded to better represent the world's population and economies. Sarkozy told reporters on Wednesday that a possible formula would be to have the G-8 meet within the structure of a G-20, major economies taking the lead on ways out of the economic crisis, or a G-14, combining the industrialized nations and emerging economies forums.

In their statement, the G-5 called for greater inclusion in international decision-making, noting its members' positive contributions to tackling global challenges.

CBS News correspondent Susan Roberts reports that President Obama was to lead Thursday's discussions on the climate. On Wednesday, Mr. Obama and other G-8 leaders agreed on the need to keep the world's average temperature from rising by more than 3.5 degrees, or 2 degrees Celsius.

The G-8 also pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by mid-century, but the group failed to get developing nations onboard with the plan, reports Roberts.

However, Roberts notes that progress on all topics could be hindered by the absence of China's President, Hu Jintao. He withdrew from the talks to return to his own country, where days of ethnic rioting in the western part of the country have led to at least 150 deaths and hundreds of arrests.

On the issue of aid, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday that the leaders have decided they need to change the way they help Africa, and introduce a mechanism of accountability to review efforts.

"We want our funds to go to precise investments, schools, buildings and so on," Berlusconi told reporters.

Berlusconi also has said the G-8 was looking into establishing an agricultural development fund for Africa, to shift away from giving handouts to the poor to helping them grow their own food.

Italy has been under intense criticism going into the G-8 summit for having maintained only 3 percent of its aid pledges of $3.5 billion to Africa made at a 2005 G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. The G-8 at that time promised to increase aid to sub-Saharan Africa by US$25 billion a year by 2010.

Berlusconi has acknowledged Italy's failure to respect its Gleneagles aid pledges, but has said it was only a delay and that he had no other choice but to cut aid because of Italy's mounting debts and the global financial crisis.

"I'm sorry we didn't keep our promises," he said in an interview over the weekend with Bob Geldof, musician and head of the anti-poverty group ONE, which has shamed Italy for its poor performance.

The United Nations Millennium Campaign, which monitors the Gleneagles goals, urged leaders not to turn their backs on the world's poorest during the L'Aquila summit, warning that the economic crisis will force developing countries, such as Laos, Senegal, Uganda, Cape Verde and Sudan, to slash spending for the poor. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya could run out of foreign reserves needed to purchase goods "in a matter of weeks."

"When world leaders break a promise, it is a sin, but when governments break a promise to the poorest people on the planet, it is nothing short of a crime," said Salil Shetty, director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

The campaign called on leaders to announce clear timetables for aid delivery promised in 2005, provide new financing to poor countries, not merely dress up old commitments, improve aid quality, and eliminate agricultural and export subsidies.

[Questionews]

Love the picture. I'm sure all that hugging is purely platonic, but it is the reason that Barney Frank is never invited to these summits.

[schotzy81]

All of these countries will laugh as Obama works on destroying our economy via "Cap and Trade" or some other economic insanity just to appease the Gods of Global Warming (or, apparently "Climate Change" because they have noticed the globe's stopped warming and started cooling over the past decade).

[Benton09]

Obama is an idiot, he's a sorry Obungler and we're going to be Socialist before long, Sarah Palin is a smart woman, It's all Bill Clinton's fault, Rush Limbaugh is my hero and I watch Sean Insanity every night to get the 'fair and balanced' report on what's going on, and on and on and on......Do you people actually believe what you type or are you just looking for attention?

[udontnoitall]

Enlighten everyone.

[robinspp]

If a country doesn?t have clean air, that country is sick. No matter how much money they make by polluting the atmosphere, they are sick. I am sure they will spend all their wealth for their sickness.

[robinspp]

If a country doesn?t have clean air, that country is sick. No matter how much money they make by polluting the atmosphere, they are sick. I am sure they will spend all their wealth for their sickness.

[hclinton2012]

The biggest "polluter" in this world is China, and they are going to grow by over 6.0% this year and they don't spend anything on their sick!

[zonkzilla]

"Fastest-Growing Economies Join G-8 Summit"
Stupid headline. All economies in the world are shrinking due to the worldwide depression, none are growing.
Typical baloney headline.

[hclinton2012]

Wrong, China will have an GDP growth of over 6.0% this year while the US ecomony will lose over 5.0% growth in it's GDP. They have leaders that are using "free-market" Capitalist methods to their ecomony. We have a LOSER of a President Barack Obama who is trying "Socialistic" methods to our ecomony, and they WON'T work and are NOT working!

[pepperwood2]

"We are concerned with the present state of the world economy, which submits the developing countries to an inordinate burden resulting from a crisis they did not initiate,"

Maybe these jerks out to get back to the World Economy instead of bailing out all these Crooks, CEOs, Wall Street, Auto, Banking & Mortgage Outlaws with the Cap & Trade, & Global Warming Taxes on the People.

But then they expect that The People will be eventually fooled to go back to the spend, & charge mentally that they're counting on to pay for all this mess G8 created. The Kyoto Tanaka Memorial Plan. So Sad if we fall for this again.