G8 summit pledges $20 bln to fight hunger

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Leaders at the Group of Eight (G8) summit pledged 20 billion U.S. dollars on Friday to help poor countries increase their agriculture output to fight hunger.

"We welcome the commitments made by countries represented at L'Aquila towards 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 issued after the summit in the central Italian town of L'Aquila.

"We have initiated a L'Aquila Food Security Initiative to increase from 15 billion dollars to 20 billion dollars in three years" to help fight world hunger, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told a press conference at the end of the summit.

The three-day summit gathered leaders from G8 countries, five major developing countries and some African nations, as well as from international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, among others.

Participants discussed a wide range of topics including food security, the impact of the global financial and economic crisis, and last year's spike of food prices in countries that were least able to respond to increasing hunger and poverty.