G8 seeks closer ties with rising economic powers

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (Reuters) - Leaders of the G8 industrial powers on Thursday said they wanted stronger policy cooperation with China and other emerging heavy-hitters of the world's economy.

The decision amounted to an acknowledgment that a small club of long-industrialized economic powers created in the mid-1970s can no longer shape global economic policy without involving non-members such as China, India and Brazil more routinely.

"Against the background of our respective responsibilities, common solutions need to be developed," the leaders said in a statement released at a summit by the Baltic sea.

"Both the G8 countries and the major emerging economies have the chance to define a new partnership responding to these world economic challenges."

They handed the task of go-between to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based agency which promotes free-market economics for 30 mostly wealthy countries that includes those in the Group of Eight.

G8 members are the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia.

China, which only started to open its doors to the rest of the world in the late 1970s under Deng Xiaoping, is already the world's fourth largest economy, with annual GDP growth of more than 10 percent, well above that of any G8 country.

The G8 leaders announced a two-year trial for an initiative they said should focus on energy efficiency, freedom to invest, promotion and protection of innovation, plus development policy, notably towards Africa.

Leaders from the countries the G8 wants to work closely with -- China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa -- are attending the G8 summit for discussions on Friday.