G-8 tries to be inclusive, but wary of expansion

Giving others equal status, however, is another matter.

Host country Japan has stressed that this year's G-8 summit was the largest ever, with leaders from seven African nations, five major developing countries, the United Nations and several other international organizations in attendance.

The opening of the G-8's doors reflects criticism it had for too long remained an exclusive and somewhat isolated club representing only the wealthy industrialized world and trying to decide world policy without listening to the concerns of less powerful--and less affluent--nations.

Now, it is going out of its way to be inclusive.

The three-day talks at a mountaintop resort on the northern Japan island of Hokkaido included meetings first with the African leaders, then with the leaders of the G-5 developing countries and finally an even more expanded round of talks that brought in South Korea, Australia and Indonesia.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was in town for the talks, along with the leaders of the World Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, International Energy Agency, African Union and European Commission.

"This has been three overlapping summits," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "The world is changing fast and we must change with it."

Next year, the expanded format will go even further.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday the next summit will devote a full day to talks with the Africans and the G-5 developing nations--India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico--who together represent 42 percent of the world's population.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been particularly outspoken in favor of including major emerging economies in the group. On Wednesday, he said all members of the G-8 backed that stance.

The need for broad input is clear and pressing.

The main topics at this year's summit were global--climate change and the rapid rise in food and fuel prices. Leaders of both the developing and developed world, while far apart on many of the specifics, were in general agreement that all require a coordinated response.

Not all G-8 watchers see the current "outreach" program as a wholly positive thing.

Some critics have suggested the G-8's motive in bringing more countries in on the talks is to divert attention from its own lack of leadership.

That criticism became particularly sharp on climate change.

Disarray on that topic was clear here, with the G-8 saying that global emissions should be cut in half by 2050 and China, India and others calling on them to do far more to take a leadership role.

"The G-8 is no longer enough to solve many of the problems," Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

Even so, G-8 members have been lukewarm to the idea of giving any countries equal status by formally expanding its membership.

In her final-day remarks, Merkel said it is important that the G-8 "does not water itself down."

"I cannot say if we will meet as a big group in two years, in five or in ten or in fifteen," she said.

But she added that the group must sort out some issues on their own before bringing in others, and cited climate change and intellectual property rights as examples--two issues on which the G-8 is at odds with China.

"The format we are getting now is almost ideal," she said.