G8 summit ends with 20-billion-dollar aid promise

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 10 (Xinhua) -- World leaders at the Group of Eight (G8) summit ended their three-day gathering Friday with a promise to mobilize 20 billion U.S. dollars to help fight world hunger but made little progress on climate change.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addresses the closing press conference of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in L'Aquila, central Italy, July 10, 2009. The three-day G8 summit and its related meetings ended here on Friday.  (Xinhua/Zeng Yi)

"Working with the G8, African and European countries and multinational bodies, we had the satisfaction of increasing the 15 billion to 20 billion dollars over thee years," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told a press conference after hosting the summit in this central Italian city.

It had been expected that the world leaders would commit 15 billion U.S. dollars to help poor countries promote sustainable agriculture development in the fight against hunger, but the final amount was five billion U.S. dollars more.

"We welcome the commitments made by countries represented at L'Aquila toward a goal of mobilizing 20 billion dollars over three years through this coordinated, comprehensive strategy focused on sustainable agriculture development, while keeping a strong commitment to ensure adequate emergency food aid assistance," the leaders said in a statement.

The impact of the economic crisis on the African continent and food security were the main items on the agenda for the final day of the summit.