Lula to call for solidarity with poor nations at G8

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will call on wealthy nations to moderate their demands on poor countries during next week's G8 summit in Italy, a presidential spokesman said Friday.

Lula will tell the world's eight largest economies to be more flexible in what they ask from developing nations in response to the global economic crisis and climate change.

"Developing countries are the ones who most need the beneficial effects of anti-economic crisis measures and they need to be able to count on aid from wealthier nations," Lula will say, according to his spokesman Marcelo Baumbach.

"Lula will insist on the importance of anticyclical measures, social protection, revenue transfer programs, financial recovery and the strengthening of infrastructure and say that these are not the privilege of a small group of countries," he added.

The Latin American head of state will emphasize that the economic crisis "has caused a 10 percent increase in the number of people suffering from hunger in the world."

On climate change, Lula will call for "ambitious objectives to reduce greenhouse gases" and the "financial resources and technology" necessary for developing nation to adopt anti-climate change measures, Baumbach said.

Brazil is the world's fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gas because of the massive deforestation occurring the country.

The Brazilian leader has said he believes the G8 is going through a period of "redefinition of its role" and that discussion of future "big global problems" must include representatives from places like Brasilia and Beijing.

The Latin American nation is a member of the G20 -- an organization of the world's industrialized and emerging economies that has dominated debate on the international economic crisis.

Brazil is also one of the so-called G5 nations, along with Mexico, China India and South African, that are invited each year to participate in the G8 summit.