TOYAKO, Japan, July 8 (AFP): Leaders of the world's rich industrial nations met today in a bid to thrash out a common strategy to stem record rises in oil and food prices and ensure food security.
The Group of Eight (G8) leaders meeting in Japan will focus the second day of their summit on the crisis that is fuelling inflation, sparking food riots and threatening to damage global economic growth.
"The leaders are scheduled to discuss the world economy and focus on how to deal with inflation and a surge in prices of primary commodities," said a Japanese foreign ministry official.
A day after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon joined African leaders in calling on the G8 to make good on its promises to boost aid to Africa, the leaders will focus on fighting global inflation and stabilising financial markets.
Agreeing on some form of united action to stop already record crude oil prices from reaching new highs will be central to the talks in the luxury lakeside hotel in the Hokkaido island resort town of Toyako.
The price of oil has risen five folds in the last five years and has doubled in the past year alone. Crude stood at 141.37 dollars Monday.
G8 leaders are also expected to discuss the stalled Doha round of r promises to double aid for Africa by 2010.
Aid groups, accusing the leaders of attempting to backtrack on the issue, were pushing for the leaders to reconfirm their commitment made in Britain in 2005 to provide 50 billion dollars in extra aid by 2010, half of it earmarked for Africa.
"We must see the 50 billion dollars aid promise back in the communique," said Max Lawson of Oxfam International.
Aid groups accused some of the G8 nations-Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States-of walking away from earlier commitments.
The leaders will also try to thrash out some agreement on climate change despite opposing views on how to tackle the issue by G8 leaders.
Meanwhile, the ailing global economy took centre stage as eight of the world's most powerful leaders met today to discuss ways to wrestle down skyrocketing oil and food prices.
G8 nations were also locked in separate tough negotiations on tackling climate change as officials voiced optimism there could be progress, with Washington under pressure to agree for the first time to binding targets.
The threat from inflation, which has led to protests worldwide, has become the top economic concern for the G8 rich nations, whose leaders huddled for a second day in this Japanese spa resort under tight security.
The surge in oil prices is "one of the most important issues at this summit," said a Japanese foreign ministry official. But with most major oil producers absent from the talks, it was unclear what steps the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States would be able to take to rein in surging crude costs.
The weakness of the dollar was also expected to be on the agenda for the G8, who met in a plush hotel in northern Japan, guarded by thousands of police who have blocked protesters from getting near the summit venue.
But with central bank chiefs absent, currency markets are sceptical that the talks will yield any coordinated steps to stem the weakness of the dollar, which analysts say is contributing to the rise in world oil prices.
Meanwhile, in a statement released on the second day of the group's three-day annual summit, the G8 made a veiled call for China to let the yuan's tightly controlled exchange rate appreciate to help reduce global financial imbalances.
"In some emerging economies with large and growing current account surpluses, it is crucial that their effective exchange rates move so that necessary adjustment will occur," the G8 said in the statement, without naming any country.
