(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOYAKO, Japan, July 8_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE DETAILS)

The Group of Eight nations agreed Tuesday to exercise leadership on global greenhouse gas emissions and to implement "ambitious" mid-term goals but tactfully remained vague on a long-term target, calling on the world to "share" and "consider" the vision of at least halving emissions by 2050.

"With this, we have firmed the foundation for the next step" toward a deal eyed at U.N. negotiations in Copenhagen next year, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters at the ongoing G-8 summit. "We need to build a framework in which all nations will participate. The G-8 have taken the first step and we must unite to get developing and emerging nations to join."

The leaders identified the Japanese-proposed sectoral approaches as "useful tools" among others for achieving national emission reduction objectives and agreed to help developing nations mitigate the impact of global warming.

On the second day of their annual summit, the G-8 leaders also shared "strong concern" about surges in oil and food prices, as well as reaffirming their commitment to support the U.N. eight-point set of Millennium Development Goals and African development especially in agriculture and health-related issues.

In a special statement on global food security, the leaders said they were "deeply concerned" that the steep rise in food prices is threatening global food security.

They noted that removing export restrictions and expediting free trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization are imperative to solving the food crisis, one of the main topics at the summit.

Calling for countries with sufficient food stocks to make available part of their surplus for countries in need, the G-8 members agreed to explore options for a "virtual" internationally coordinated reserve system for humanitarian purposes.

The leaders said in a statement on climate change that the G-8 will "seek to share" the vision of halving global emissions by 2050 and to "consider and adopt" the goal in U.N. climate change negotiations. Last year, the major nations agreed to "consider seriously" the same target.

Fukuda said the G-8 agreed that the long-term target will be the "correct and essential" goal for the world.

While Japan and the European Union, which have both pushed for a G-8 numerical target, welcomed the "agreement" on the long-term goal as progress, the carefully crafted wording of the declaration leaves room for interpretation.

"The G-8's endorsement of a tepid '50 by 50' climate goal leaves us with a 50/50 chance of a climate meltdown," said Antonio Hill, spokesperson for advocacy agency Oxfam International. He added that the announcement was not a breakthrough but "another stalling tactic" instead.

In a morning session, the G-8 leaders vowed to coordinate measures to tackle the "serious challenge" posed to stable world economic growth, according to a separate statement on the world economy.

They agreed on the need to increase investment in oil production and refining capacity, improve energy efficiency, promote alternative energy sources and develop new technologies in order to reverse the surge in oil and food prices, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

While the leaders said they remain positive about the long-term resilience of the world economy, they noted that it is now "facing uncertainty and downside risks persist," according to the statement.

Meanwhile, the leaders differed on the issue of whether to expand the G-8, the official said, while declining to specify who made the remarks.

One leader underscored the need to consider a larger membership to reflect current international affairs, while three others responded with reluctance, citing complications to discussions involving too many participants and suggesting utilizing the current framework of holding outreach dialogue with emerging nations and others.

Meeting at a secluded hilltop hotel in Hokkaido's Lake Toya resort, the leaders are also set to issue statements on strengthening the nonproliferation regime, antiterrorism cooperation and the political crisis in Zimbabwe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday morning she is "very satisfied" with the work that has been done on the G-8 documents, as regards progress on the issue of climate change and cooperation in the area of food and oil.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also hailed the agreement on climate goals by saying, "The EU's benchmark for success at this summit has been achieved. We remain on track to reach a global climate deal in Copenhagen in 2009."

Japan, as host of the three-day summit, has been desperate to achieve progress on forming a consensus over a post-2012 framework that goes beyond last year's agreement in Germany.

But Japan and Europe had to win agreement from the United States, which wanted to ensure that other major emitters like China and India are also committed.

The statement on climate change by the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States came on the eve of expanded negotiations on Wednesday when the leaders hold a Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change before wrapping up the summit.

The U.S.-initiated MEM comprises the G-8 and eight other major emitters including Australia, China and India. The response especially from Beijing and New Delhi to the G-8's call will likely set the tone for negotiations from now on.

The G-8 leaders, who exchanged views with leaders of seven African nations in an outreach dialogue a day earlier, also affirmed Tuesday their support for Africa to overcome the food crisis by helping improve agricultural productivity and attracting more investment.

They agreed to be "firmly committed" to working to fulfill their aid pledges at the 2005 Gleneagles summit, including increasing, compared to 2004, with other donors, their official development assistance to Africa by $25 billion a year by 2010.

On the commitment at last year's summit to provide at least $60 billion to fight infectious diseases and strengthen health systems in Africa, the leaders agreed to do so in five years, but without specifying when the period will start.

They also supported reviewing restrictions and facilitating travel for HIV positive people, and agreed to help fill the world's shortage of health workers by training doctors, nurses and midwives to meet the World Health Organization threshold of 2.3 health workers per 1,000 people.

The leaders will conclude the day with discussions at a working dinner on global political issues, namely North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Myanmar.

On the summit sidelines, Fukuda met bilaterally with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. A scheduled meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was canceled.

(Takehiko Kajita, Takuya Karube, Miya Tanaka and Ko Hirano also contributed to this article.)

Copyright ? 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc.

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