The leaders of the Group of Eight -- United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Canada and Japan -- plus European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and current EU president Sweden gathered in Italy to discuss the end of recession, financial regulation, Doha trade round.

Following comments from world leaders at the summit.

RUSSIA PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV said in a statement:

Cooperation in overcoming the global financial and economic crisis will become the central topics of my contacts here. Discussions will be mainly focused on confirming and developing further decisions of the London G20 summit including restoring order in financial sector, encouraging trade and the need for structural changes in the global economy.

Problems of helping less developed countries, which have suffered most from the global crisis, remain very important.

GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL:

We (the industrial nations), have caused a lot of damage to nature. Therefore it is our job, to be frontrunner in the protection of the climate. It is also we, the industrial nations, who have taken part in causing the world-economic crisis through the crisis on the financial markets. Therefore the world is right to expect from us to contribute to a solution here

U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, after talks in Rome with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, told reporters that nuclear proliferation was among the issues they discussed:

He agreed that even as the United States and Russia find ways to fulfill our responsibility to reduce our stockpiles that it's very important for the world community to speak to countries like Iran and North Korea and encourage them to take a path that does not result in a nuclear arms race in places like the Middle East and that there are other means by which countries can ensure their sovereignty and gain respect.

CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER:

The first job remains making sure banks and financial institutions are functioning. There's still work to be done on that front, obviously not in Canada but around the world in many other countries.

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