Faced with the growing importance of developing countries, the rich club of G-8 nations mulled different ideas on Wednesday for holding regular talks with countries like China and India.  

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said he had floated the idea of holding summits of the Group of 20 -- which includes the Group of Eight leading industrial nations but adds other important countries -- in addition to G-8 summits.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the leaders were thinking of inviting China and India into the G8 itself.

"It doesn't make much sense for us to talk about the economy of the future without two countries that are protagonists on the world stage," Berlusconi told reporters during a break in talks at the annual G-8 summit.

The G-8 comprises the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia.

Berlusconi said the leaders discussed the strength of the Chinese economy.

"But we said that we shouldn't be afraid of China because it is a huge consumer market and the idea was put forward to call China and India to join the G-8, making it the G-9 or G-10," Berlusconi said.

A Canadian official said: "The G-8 needs to acknowledge that global power and influence are not uniquely in the hands of the G-8."

The issue of whether the G-8 is inclusive enough comes up virtually every year, and another Canadian official said talks were only in a preliminary stage.

But Martin held out the possibility of a G-20 summit next year.

"Canada's idea is gaining a lot of support. Is it for today? No. Could it be done at the beginning of next year? I think so. The possibility is improving," he said in French.

The G-8 took root in 1975 when French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing invited what was then the Group of Six to a fireside chat about the world economy in Rambouillet, near Paris.

Canada and Russia joined later.

(China Daily via agencies, June 10, 2004)